Growing Pains
by NeeP
Summary: Danny's tired of being treated as a little kid, but when two ghost cousins kidnap him and get to age to 17 years, he finds that his new body has issues of his own. Can he change back before his parents get home?
1. The Xtra Long Weekend

_This is only a fanfic, using characters created by Butch Hartman. No gratuities expected nor wanted. Please visit my site to find pictures to go with the story._

_This story takes place any time after the episode 'Urban Jungle' and before 'D-Stabilized'._

Prelude...

In a small room, surrounded with glowing gears, deep within the Ghost Zone, two individuals sat looking into a portal into the real world. One was a boy, dressed in a red and black punk fashion with an image of gears on his torn shirt. The other was a drab looking girl with her long violet hair pulled in a braid and wearing slacks and a cardigan.  
The two were watching a fight between a white-haired youth duking it out with a stronger denizen of their own realm.

"Give it up, whelp!" snarled Skulker. "You cannot defeat me!"  
"Haven't I heard that before?" asked Danny Phantom as he dodged many ecto-technological weapons that were fired on him. "Many times before?" He fired his ecto-blast at his enemy in hopes of disabling some of the weaponry the other ghost wielded.  
"This time I mean it! I will defeat you and you will become one of my many trophies!" Skulker grinned at him sinisterly. "I have the use of many new technological enhancements that I made specifically to hunt you, ghost-child." He fired off some of the aforementioned enhancements, and Danny managed to destroy some of them and dodge the others. He looked towards the menacing hunter ghost.  
"Why do you call me 'ghost-child' all the time?" he asked his opponent. "It's not like I'm a little kid, you know..."  
Skulker aimed one of his ecto-cannons towards the half-ghost. "Listen and listen well, whelp," he said. "In terms of years of existance and experience obtained, you are a mere babe next to me..."  
"Oh yeah?!?" shouted Danny angrily. "But can a 'mere babe' do this?!?" His eyes turned an icy blue as he fired a freezing cold beam of energy towards his opponent.  
Skulker blinked. "Hah! You missed!" he chortled, then looked down. He realised that from the neck down, his ecto-skeleton was encased in ice. "Um. I can't move," he said.  
Now it was Danny's turn to smirk. "Also, can a 'mere babe' do this?" He closed in on the trapped ghost and raised his fist...

The two ghosts watching the fight winced as they saw the quick conclusion.  
"So, what do you think Coz?" asked the male ghost to the female.  
"What do you mean?" replied the other. She watched the scene, keeping her eyes on the boy in the image.  
"I mean, do you think it is possible that we could take over that place?" He pointed to image.  
"Amity Park?" she clarified. "In the real world?"  
"Yeah." He nodded vigorously. "Wouldn't it be cool?"  
The girl tilted her head in confusion. "Why do you want to take over this place?"  
"Because it is _the **Place**_! The place where everything happens! When our two worlds tangle Amity Park is always hopping." He was gesturing madly, his voice rising with excitement. "Wouldn't you love to be in control of all that?"  
"In control?"  
"Yeah. In control." The punk ghost looked at his drab cousin. "The ghost who can control Amity Park and its ghost portal will control pretty much everything. --The real world, the Ghost Zone, _everything._"  
"What good is all that?"  
"You'd have power... Think of what you can do!"  
The female ghost stopped and thought back to all the times the other, more popular ghosts made fun of her. They have always pulled pranks on her and called her names. --Just because she could create and hold a schedule. It would be nice just to be able to get back at them --even just a little bit.  
"I suppose there are a few people I wouldn't mind getting even with," she murmured.  
"Cool," he replied. "I thought so."  
"So, why are you talking to me? I mean, you're one of the popular kids. Aren't I the nerd? The geek? Why do you think I can help you?  
"Because you are the one who comes up with the best plans. --I mean details. Sure I can come up with the greatest ideas, the greatest schemes. But you are the one who can figure out how to make it all work. And I need your help."  
"My help?" The girl ghost was surprised and suspicious. "What's in it for me?" she asked.  
"What do you want?" he asked.  
"You mean to tell me that you, one of the popular kids, is willing to make a deal with your geeky cousin?" she asked.  
"Why not? I need your help and I know what you can do. So, whatever you want --it's yours."  
"Anything?" She raised one eye-brow.  
"Yeah, anything. You name it, it's yours."  
"You do realize that if our uncle was to find out what we're doing, we're going to get into serious trouble, right?"  
The boy shrugged and waved the concern away. "Who's to say he's gonna find out? I'm not gonna tell him, are you?"  
The girl paused in thought for a moment more. "No, I wouldn't tell him either..." Her eyes narrowed, then she blinked and nodded. "Okay, you got me. But my price is high."  
"I'm sure that I can cover it. So what is it?"  
"Two things," she said, counting off her fingers. "One: You got to help me fix my image."  
The boy ghost frowned for a moment. He looked at his cousin appraisingly. "That's gonna be a challenge, but it's manageable. You sure you want to change it?"  
The girl pulled on the hem of her cardigan and grimaced. "Yeah, I'm sure," she said. "I'm tired of being called a nerd."  
"Okay, done. I think we can put something together. What's the other thing?"  
"Him." She pointed through the portal at the white haired youth battling the other ghost. "I want him... **_Danny Phantom._**"

**Growing Pains.**  
_A Danny Phantom Fanfic._  
By Niki "NeeP" Paradis

_"Watch the terror mature!"_

Chapter One: The Xtra Long Weekend

"I LOVE Teacher's Convention!" cheered Tucker Foley. He and his friends, Danny Fenton and Sam Manson were walking down the street towards the mall. It was Thursday afternoon and they had the day off. "Two extra days of no school work and no Lancer. Just relaxation and video games."  
Danny snorted. "Relaxation? Only if Skulker finds another prey to chase. Or if there is no other ghost to fight. I really don't want a repeat of yesterday."  
"But at least your folks are outta town and we can _paaaartay_!"  
"I don't think so, Tucker," replied Sam. "Jazz is still there."  
"And she will stop anything that involves loud music and lots of people," grumbled Danny.  
"Didn't Jazz want to attend the lecture on psychology at the convention that your parents went to?" asked Tucker.  
"Yeah, but apparently I'm not--" He used his fingers to make quotation marks. "--'_Old_' enough to be trusted on my own for such a long period of time."  
"That stinks," commented Sam.  
Tucker shrugged. "But at least we have two additional days to hang out together."  
Danny grinned. "Yup. That we do have." Suddenly a shiver ran up his spine and escaped his lips in a puff of cool vapour. He sighed. "Even if the time we have is used in fighting ghosts."  
Quickly he scanned the street, looking for a place to transform to his alter-ego. He spotted an empty phone booth. "It's cliché, but it will have to do," he muttered as he ran to it. He dashed in, and Sam and Tucker stood guard. A burst of light came from the booth and Danny Phantom phased through the top.  
There were screams coming from the way they came. Tucker and Sam looked and saw kids from their school running from some purple energy blasts. They were being thrown from some sort of glowing nunchucks used by what appeared to be a teenage ghost in a purple and black hairstyle, dressed in red and black. Already Danny was streaking towards the enemy.

"That's right, you human scum!" yelled the ghost punk as he directed more beams towards his victims. "Better get outta the way! Things are changing! Times are changing!" Pieces of wreckage were scattered about.  
Danny soared up to his new opponent and stopped in front of the punk. "Please tell me you have better moves and battle-cries than that."  
"Oh, wow," said the ghost sarcastically. "I get to fight the oh-so-famous half ghost, Danny Phantom."  
"Yup. It's your lucky day. And who are you supposed to be? Some reject from a cheesy music video?"  
"The name's Epoch! Better not forget it." The ghost sneered and started to swing his nunchucks around. "I'm the ghost who's gonna kick your butt right outta the afterlife." He sent a blast of energy towards Danny who countered with an ecto-shield.  
"Yeah? You and what army?" Danny fired off a few ecto-blasts towards his opponent.  
"I don't need one," replied Epoch as he swung his nunchucks around to block Danny's attack. He sent more blasts off to Danny. "But you just might."  
"Yeah?" said a voice from behind Epoch. "Fortunately, he got one!" He was nailed from behind by a signpost, swung expertly by Sam.  
"Good one!" cheered Tucker.  
Danny took the moment to freeze his opponent's feet to the asphalt. He grabbed the dazed ghost punk by the collar of his shirt. "Why are you here?!?" he shouted.  
"Uh..." grunted the ghost.  
Danny started to shake him. "What do you want?!?" he shouted into Epoch's face.  
"What do I want?" repeated the ghost punk as clarity returned to his eyes. "Why, this place! Amity Park. But even I know that I ain't gonna get it today." He smirked. "Today, my cousin and I are here to get something else."  
"Your cousin?" asked Danny dumbly. He looked around for any other ghost nearby. He didn't see any, but he didn't look behind him.  
An ecto-blast hit him from behind, knocking the half-ghost away. A second blast blew away the ice encasing Epoch's feet.  
Sam and Tucker turned to face the individual who fired the blasts.  
A female ghost, with green eyes and long purple hair, tied up in a ponytail, was walking towards their friend. She wore a black and red sleeveless dress and earrings and a choker with red gears on them. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't wait any longer," she said to her cousin as she walked past him.  
"No problem," replied Epoch. "You're timing was perfect."  
"As always," smirked the female ghost.  
Danny was on his hands and knees, trying to get up. The female ghost fired another blast which knocked him flat.  
"Sorry, can't have you up and about," she said. "It's not part of my plans."  
Danny's friends ran to his side.  
"Danny? Are you all right?" asked Tucker.  
"No. I can't move," he replied. "She got me with a paralysis beam or something."  
"This is one of Skulker's wonderful little devices," said the ghost as she reached the trio. "It's called a Bioneuro-Neutraliser. I borrowed it just for you. I hope you appreciate it. It's supposed to work on humans and half-humans." She quickly fired a blast at each Sam and Tucker, who immediately crumpled to the ground.  
"Who are you?" asked Danny in a slurred voice.  
The girl ghost knelt down by him. "You can call me Deadline," she said. "And we better get going, because we have a schedule to keep." She grabbed Danny's wrist and started to pull him away from the others.  
"What are you gonna do to him?" asked Tucker weakly as Epoch joined his cousin.  
"I'm going to take him home to my place," said Deadline. "But don't you worry, we'll bring him back in a little while. Just in time to help us take over Amity Park."  
"He's not gonna help you," said Sam as she struggled to get back to her feet.  
"Not willingly," laughed Epoch, "but by the time we're through with him, you'll be lucky to recognise him, let alone stop him."  
Deadline reached into a pocket and pulled out something. She held it up and a portal into the Ghost Zone opened up.  
"See you, losers!" taunted Epoch as he and Deadline stepped through the portal, dragging Danny with them. The portal closed behind them.  
"No!" shouted Tucker and Sam together.

The two ghosts were back in the small room with their prisoner. The gears on the walls ticked softly and was, for the moment, the only sound heard.  
Epoch snorted as he glared at the half-human chained to the slanted table. "I can't believe you want that dweeb," he said.  
Deadline put down her clipboard on a desk nearby, next to Skulker's gun and a small glowing bottle. "I'm the one who wrote the specifics of the plans and Danny Phantom is going to help us both."  
"No way!" shouted Danny as he pulled on the chains that held him. "Forget it! There's no way I am going to help you two take over my home town!"  
The ghost punk shook his head and looked to his cousin. "Well Coz, if you can get him to do what we want, then I can't say no. But I wanna know how you're gonna get him to cooperate."  
The female ghost gave a low chuckle. She walked towards the table with its prisoner. "Don't worry," she said turning back to face her cousin. "I have plans..."  
Epoch snorted again. "Don't tell me it has to do with that creepy room of yours..." He looked towards a glowing door with a plaque of an hourglass on it.  
"That's my Study Room," replied Deadline with a shake of her head. "And as I mentioned before, unless we use it, we won't have the time we need to get Danny ready for what he has to do."  
"Um, for what I have to do?" asked Danny.  
"That's right," she replied as she smiled down at her prisoner. "The Study Room is a gift from my uncle. A year spent in the room is equivalent to an hour spent out here. I use it when I want to get a lot of studying done, or when I work on detailed plans."  
"Like this one," interrupted Epoch with a smirk.  
"Really?" asked Danny, trying to stall.  
"Yup," nodded the ghost punk.  
"We're just gonna get you trained right up so you can help us out," replied Deadline.  
Danny strained again against the chains. "You can't make me!" he grunted.  
The female ghost walked back to the desk and picked up the bottle. "Actually, I can." She uncorked the bottle. "All it takes is this special little something I got from Desiree." She took a small sip and walked back to the table where Danny was chained. She leaned over and gave him a tender kiss. Suddenly Danny stopped struggling and his expression went blank as the spell took hold.  
"What did you do?" asked her cousin.  
"Be quiet for a moment," she hissed back at him. "Danny?" she then asked. "Do you hear me?"  
"Yes."  
"Good. I want you to relax for a bit, okay?"  
"Okay."  
"You take a nap for a bit."  
"Okay. Good night." The ensorcelled half-boy/half-ghost closed his eyes and fell asleep.  
Deadline smiled.  
There was sizzling sound and dividing rings of energy ran along the sleeping prisoner, changing him from ghost to human.  
Deadline frowned. "Hmm. We're gonna have to do something about that," she muttered.  
Epoch shook his head as in disgust or incomprehension as to why his cousin was so wrapped up in this particular freak. He turned to his cousin and stared at the bottle. He then thought about how fast Deadline was able to bring the freak under control. "Wow," he said. "What is that stuff?"  
"Do you want to find out?" teased his cousin, shaking the bottle gently.  
"No way!" he said hastily, backing away. "So... how long does that stuff last?" he asked in a calmer voice.  
"Until another person kisses him," she replied. "And Danny is going to be too busy training so he won't see anyone else besides you and me."  
"I shoulda known you'd have it all planned," he said and shook his head in disbelief and admiration.  
"Of course," she replied with a smirk. "That's why you wanted my help, after all."

Sam and Tucker ran into the Fenton Works. They stumbled through the living room, past Jazz who was doing some reading, and down the stairs.  
"Hi guys," said Jazz as she watched the two younger teens run by her. "Where's Danny?" she asked.  
"Danny's in..." started Tucker but Sam slapped her hand over his mouth and smiled brightly at the older teen.  
"Danny's all right, he's fighting a ghost right now, but he asked us to get the Spectre Speeder so we can give him a hand."  
"Oh," said Jazz as she looked at her little brother's two best friends. They were pleading at her with their eyes. She sighed and shrugged. "Okay, you guys can take it, just don't forget to fill it up before my parents come home.  
"Thanks Jazz!" said Sam as she dragged Tucker down the stairs. "You got a deal!"  
They ran down the stairs into the lab and climbed into the Spectre Speeder. Expertly, they ran down the start-up sequence.  
"Why couldn't we tell Jazz that Danny's in trouble?" asked Tucker, as he fired up the engines.  
"Because, as well meaning as Jazz is, she would only slow us down," replied the Goth girl. "This way, we can go, get Danny and come back before she knows something is wrong."  
Tucker sat down and took the steering wheel. He looked thoughtful.  
"What?" asked Sam, not used to seeing her friend like this.  
"What kinda fuel do you think this thing runs on?" he asked as manoeuvred the vehicle through the Fenton Portal.  
With a flash of green light, they were gone.

Jazz put her book down and stood up. She walked towards the stairs leading down towards the lab. She realised the engine roar had stopped and she went downstairs to investigate.  
"Sam?" she asked. "Tucker?" The lab was empty and the Fenton Ghost Portal was open.  
Jazz sighed. "Why am I not surprised that they're gone?" she asked herself. She knew full well that her little brother was in trouble. But she also knew that she could not as experienced in helping him as his friends were. If Danny and his friends needed her help, she knew, they would ask her. It was probably something they have handled before. After all, they went immediately into the lab and into the Ghost Zone. They obviously knew what they were doing.  
She just wished there was a way she could help Danny out as well.

The glowing door in the gear room opened and Deadline left her Study Room. She nodded at her cousin. "It's ready," she said.  
"Wha..?" asked Epoch. "You were in there for not even ten minutes," he said.  
"More like almost two months," she said. "But the equipment is set up, and there should be enough food for three months --or fifteen minutes, depending on what side of the door you're on." She winked and smiled.  
She turned to the table, where Danny Fenton was still sleeping. She undid the shackles that held him down on the table.  
"So... Are you sure that's a good idea, Coz?" asked Epoch as he watched.  
"It'll be fine," replied the female ghost. She leaned over her captive and said, "Wake up, Danny."  
Unfocused sky blue eyes opened and turned towards her. The he promptly slid off the slanted table into a heap on the floor.  
Epoch snorted. "Ha!"  
"Stand up, Danny," she said.  
Silently, the human boy stood up. He looked straight ahead unblinking.  
Deadline looked at him critically. The only visual physical difference between Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom was the colouration. But she felt he looked way too mundane as a human.  
"Transform, Danny," she said to him.  
Danny tilted his head, as if trying to understand.  
Deadline tried again. "Change, Danny," she said.  
His head tilted the other way.  
Epoch snickered. "Now what are you gonna do?" he asked.  
"Shut up. I'm trying to think." Deadline crossed her arms and tilted her head as she looked at her human. Then she smiled. "I got it. Danny," she said. "_Go 'Ghost'_."  
Danny nodded emphatically. A ring of glowing energy formed around his waist and divided, changing him from human to ghost. Brilliant green eyes remained unfocused.  
Deadline walk around him as he continued to stare straight forward. She had to admit it to herself, the half-human was kinda cute. The biggest visual difference between Danny Phantom and other ghosts was his complexion. His face had a rosy hue that other ghosts, including herself did not have. Everyone else had a complexion so pale, it verged on being pale green or pale blue. She shook herself to her senses. Yeah, he was kinda cute, but she needed him to be more than that. And the food was going to spoil soon in the Study Room.  
"Danny, listen," she said and he turned towards her. She handed him a list. "This is your training schedule. Can you read it?"  
"Yes," he said.  
"Good." She turned him towards the glowing door. "You must follow the schedule exactly. Do you understand?"  
"Yes," replied Danny in a monotone voice. "I must follow the schedule exactly."  
"Good boy." She winked at her cousin. She walked over to the door and open it. "I will be coming to visit in about three months. I will bring another training schedule. You will begin training as soon as you go in. Got it?"  
Danny nodded and walked into the Study Room. "I will begin training at once," he said.  
The door closed behind him.  
Epoch grinned at his cousin's easy handling of their prisoner. "Cool," he said. "So now we get to sit back and relax, right?"  
"Nope," she replied, already walking towards a pile of boxes. "We got fifteen minutes to get the next supply of food ready for him."  
"We..?" asked the punk boy ghost. "You mean we gotta haul this stuff?"  
"Yes, we do," replied Deadline as she hoisted a box. "So let's get busy."  
Epoch deflated as he looked at the pile. "Man..."

"So how are we gonna find him?" asked Tucker as he steered the Spectre Speeder through the Ghost Zone.  
"Well, we can try the Fenton Radar," suggested Sam as she flicked it on.  
The device beeped to life. Then, "Real World item detected," announced the device. What looked like a human silhouette appeared on the screen.  
"He must have gone human," she ventured.  
The image was there for a few moments, then vanished.  
"Hey," said Tucker. "It's gone."  
"He must have gone Ghost again," she said. "Just aim for the location of the last reading and we'll start looking for him there."  
"You got it."

Sam and Tucker traveled for some time, following the traces of the last signal. They went through areas of the Ghost Zone they have never seen before.  
"We've been lucky so far," said Tucker as he stared into the green tinted darkness.  
"What do you mean?" asked Sam. "We haven't found Danny yet."  
"I know, but the ghosts haven't found us yet either. And if you ask me, that IS a good thing."  
"Yeah, I guess you're riii..." She stopped mid-sentence. "Look over there!" Sam pointed suddenly out the forward window.  
Tucker looked. Sam was pointing at a large cuckoo clock. "Now that's creepy," he commented.  
"That is also where that last signal for Danny came from," replied Sam.  
"Figures," sighed Tucker. "I always seem to have to enter the creepy places." He steered the Spectre Speeder towards the clock.  
"Hey," soothed Sam. "It could be worse. At least it's not a hospital..."  
"Watch it!" growled Tucker. "Don't mention the 'H-word' to me. Ever."

Epoch watched Deadline come out of the Study Room once again. She had just went in, not even a minute ago. "How's the training?" he asked.  
Deadline smiled her satisfied smile. "Much better than I hoped for. Just a couple more trips and he should be ready to come out." She paused for a moment. "Oh! That reminds me --I better get that other stuff ready. It won't be much longer before Danny will need that." She opened up another box and brought out what appeared to be black and white cloth.  
"Um." Epoch tilted his head to the side, even as he placed his hands on his hips. "What are you doing?"  
"Don't you worry about me," she said. Just keep your eyes on the time and let me know when it's time for another food run."  
"Right, right..." Epoch walked away, muttering. Two more trips, he thought to himself. Just another half hour to go... Man! He can't wait!

Jazz was worried. Sam and Tucker had been gone for about two and a half hours. And still she cannot hear the sound of the Spectre Speeder returning to the basement lab. "I hope everything is all right," she said to herself. "But just in case," she muttered as she descended into the lab to look for something.

The Spectre Speeder was tied to the bottom lattice work of the clock, but Tucker and Sam were inside, creeping down a dimly lit hall. Glowing gears lined the walls, and they whirred gently and ticked softly. Despite how small the outside looked, the inside of the clock contained many halls and resembled a maze.  
"This place is getting on my nerves," grumbled Sam. "How long have we been walking around here anyway."  
Tucker pulled back his sleeve and looked at his watch. "Little more than two hours," he said.  
"And it took us about an hour to get here," said the Goth girl.  
"So that makes it more than three hours," summed up the Geek boy.  
"Well we better hurry," muttered Sam. "That Deadline girl worries me, and all these gears remind of something."  
"Like what?" asked Tucker.  
"That's just it, I can't remember."  
They crept down the hall a few feet more. They heard a shout.  
"Hey. Did you hear that?" asked Sam.  
"Yeah. I wonder what that was."

"**I did it!**" shouted Deadline with delight. "He's perfect!"  
Epoch grinned at his cousin's delight. And he had to agree, she did accomplish something remarkable with the half-human freak. He looked at the sinister hooded figure. "Yeah, but will he listen to us?" he asked.  
"He'll listen to me," confirmed Deadline.  
"How about you let him show us what he can do?" he asked. "I'd love to see what Amity Park's former favourite hero can do."  
"Not yet!" exclaimed the female ghost. "He'll tear apart my home! Just wait for his friends to come and rescue him. They shouldn't be much longer."  
"They're coming?" asked Epoch.  
"Of course they are," snorted his cousin. "They are his friends. Of course they will come."  
"And you're not worried?"  
"Not really. I planned for this possibility."  
"Then why don't he and I go give the dumb humans a welcome party?" grinned Epoch as his nunchucks appeared in his hands.  
"Just don't go breaking any of my stuff," said the ghost girl reluctantly.  
"Yeah, sure, whatever... C'mon Freak-boy," said the ghost punk.  
The hooded figure turned to his master for a moment. Deadline waved her hand in a shooing motion. "Listen to Epoch for now, Danny," she said. "Show your friends a greeting like you've trained for." The covered head nodded and followed after the other ghost.  
But the two didn't even get a chance to leave the room when the two human teens stumbled through the side doorway.

Sam and Tucker stumbled through the doorway into another glowing gear lined room. They immediately spotted Deadline and Epoch as well as a tall cloaked figure. Sam pulled out the Fenton Thermos and Tucker uncapped the Laser Lipstick.  
"Where is Danny?!?" shouted Sam as Tucker covered their approach by aiming the lipstick at all opponents.  
"He's around," replied Deadline.  
"But you're gonna be too busy to go look for him," smirked Epoch as he started swinging his nunchucks. "Let's get them!" he shouted to the hooded figure. The two of them approached.  
Sam watched as the hooded figure approached. She uncapped the Fenton Thermos, only to have it smacked out of her hands by a white glove. She looked up into the hooded face. She was unable to see the shadowed features but saw green glowing eyes staring sinisterly at her. She brought out the Jack-o-nine-tails anti-ghost whip. She snapped it towards her opponent, who caught it and yanked it out of her grasp.  
"Tucker!" she cried. "A little help here?!?" She backed away some more, then turned around and ran.  
"Hang on," called Tucker as he desperately and finally zapped the nunchucks out of Epoch's hands. "Ha!" he cried.  
"Owww..." moaned Epoch as he shook his stinging hand. "Who said you could cheat?"  
"Who said there were rules?" asked Tucker as he ran after Sam and her pursuer.  
"Hurry!" called Sam, still running.  
Tucker made a leap for the cloaked figure and was able to grab a hold of the cloak itself, just as the figure managed to grab Sam's wrist.  
"Tucker!" called Sam again.  
"I can't believe I'm doing this," grunted Tucker as he yanked on the white cloak of the menacing ghost in an attempt to get it to let his friend go.  
There was a snap as a clasp came undone and the long white cloak came off. Distracted, the menacing ghost let go of the girl's arm in a vain attempt to grab the cloak. Tucker landed on his backside and a pile of white fabric landed at his feet. He stumbled to his feet. He looked up at Sam and the pursuing ghost.  
"Whoa!" yelped the boy. "No way..."  
"Huh?" asked Sam as she turned around. "Omigosh..." she said just as Tucker came to join her.  
She found herself looking at the familiar face of the friend she and Tucker came to save. She recognized the white hair and brilliant green eyes of Danny Phantom. But she did not expect to see this... This was not the lanky fourteen year old boy she started high-school with, but a tall muscular seventeen-year-old.  
_What in the world has happened to him?_ her thoughts screamed out at her.  
Nor was he acting like the Danny she knew. His eyes were blank and glowing, as if he was under someone's control. Sam didn't know what to do. She and Tucker backed up quickly while Danny pursued them.  
"We've got to do something," yelled Tucker.  
"Like what?" countered Sam, still backing away.  
"Danny!" shouted Tucker. "Wake up!"  
Their friend turned enemy paused. He blinked for a moment.  
"Nuh-uh-uh," said Deadline wagging a finger at them. "He's under my spell and there's no way you're going to break it."  
"You hear that?" Sam asked Tucker. "It's a spell. We have to figure out a way to break the spell."  
"Like what?" asked Tucker.  
"Well, I can think of one way," said Sam, "but it's gonna be risky. Cover me and distract her."  
"Okay..." the boy swallowed heavily.  
Sam nodded. "I'm going in."  
She ran off towards Danny.  
"Hmm..." mused Tucker. "I have to distract her somehow... But how?"  
Suddenly, an idea came to him. Tucker cleared his throat and applied a bit of breath spray. He turned to the ghost who held his buddy in thrall. "So, what's a nice ghost like you doing in an evil place like this?"  
"Excuse me?" Deadline turned to him, startled.  
"I mean that because you're so cute and all that I can't see you doing all this bad stuff --especially to my buddy, Danny."  
"Are you trying to distract me?" she asked incredulously.  
"Well yeah." He scratched self-consciously at the back of his neck. "Is it working yet?"  
Disbelief quickly turned to anger. "No, it's not!" yelled the ghost girl. "Danny!" she commanded. "Get them!"  
But it was too late. Sam was already too close. She leapt up, grabbed Danny's head and kissed him.  
Everything in the Ghost Zone was still for a moment. Everyone else held their breath.  
The green blank look left his eyes and he stared at Sam in wonderment. "Sam?" he asked in a voice much deeper than it should be. "What's going on?"  
Sam backed up and she was grabbed by Deadline.  
"What did you do?" hissed the female ghost.  
"I broke your little spell," said Sam.  
Tucker ran up to join them.  
"How did you know that will work?" whispered Tucker to Sam.  
"All those fairy tales can't all be wrong --and in 'em, it takes a kiss to break the evil spell."  
"You mean it was a lucky guess?"  
"Yeah, it was a lucky guess."  
The older Danny looked around him. He looked at Sam, Tucker and Deadline. "Where am I?" He rubbed at his eyes with a forearm, then froze and stared at his hands. He turned them slowly staring at the backs, then staring at the palms. He examined himself fully and Sam watched nervously.  
"_Danny?_" she asked, cautiously raising a finger.  
Deadline crossed her arms and smiled.  
"**_What have you done to me?!?_**" he cried out in terror.  
"You got to admit, he does look good, right?" asked Deadline with what sounded like pride in her voice.  
"Um." Sam didn't know what to say. Danny was taller, wider in the shoulders and looked like he did a lot of exercise in his three missing years. He was wearing a sleeveless jumper based on his original costume, but the collar was black and there was a black band around the cuff of his white gloves. The Phantom D symbol, that Sam was still secretly proud of emblazoned the chest of Danny's new costume. His hair, which had grown out, was pulled back into a ponytail. If Sam hadn't been so shocked at the moment, she would have easily admitted that Danny was not hard on a girl's eyes at all.  
"Why am I like this?" Danny asked with panic in his voice.  
"You spent three hours --or three years, in my Study Room," replied Deadline. "You were training." She walked to a table and picked up a clipboard. "And it looks like everything is right on schedule."  
"Schedule?" Sam started to ask. But she was distracted by a moan.  
Danny fell to his knees, clutching his head. "Why don't I remember?"  
"She had you under a spell," said Tucker.  
"The last thing I remember is being kissed by Deadline," said Danny who suddenly looked down and blushed.  
Sam walked over and knelt down beside him. "That's not your fault. It's probably was how she put the spell on you."  
Danny stood back up, still holding his forehead. "Yeah, I know..." He jumped up and stomped over to Deadline, who looked at him amused. "You have to change me back!" he shouted at her.  
Deadline looked startled. "Change you back?!? But why?" she asked with honest confusion.  
Danny paused. _Why? Because something about his body wasn't quite right. Because of how he was looking down on his best friends. Because..._  
"It doesn't matter anyhow," cried Epoch as he reached for his nunchucks. "You're working for us!" He started charging at Danny, swinging the weapons high over his head. "C'mon Coz! Do your voodoo and bring the freak back under control!"  
"No!" shouted Danny and he let loose with a short but powerful burst of ecto-energy. It knocked the punk ghost off his feet and threw him to the far side of the wall into the glowing gears, some of which cracked under the force. He slid to the floor. The half-human then fired of an ice beam, freezing his dazed opponent to the floor.  
Deadline grabbed the tiny glowing bottle with Desiree's potion. "Danny! Wait!" she shouted and started to run towards him.  
"Forget it!" snarled Danny and he sealed off the whole side of the room with a wall of thick ice.  
Tucker and Sam looked at each other, then at awe at Danny. He managed to fight and contain two ghosts in less than twenty seconds. But they didn't have time to dwell on it as Danny grabbed their wrists and flew out of the room.  
"We are getting out of here," Danny told his friends firmly.

From their respective icy prisons, the two ghosts looked at each other.  
"He's gone, Coz," commented Epoch to his cousin. "Now what?"  
Deadline just smiled. "Don't worry. He'll be back," replied the female ghost as she checked her clipboard. "I planned it that way."


	2. Growing Up is Hard

**Growing Pains**  
_A 'Danny Phantom' Fanfic_  
By Niki 'NeeP' Paradis 

Chapter Two: Growing Up is Hard!

The Spectre Speeder entered the basement lab through the Fenton Portal. The side door opened and the three friends came out. Danny Phantom, now taller than his friends, had to duck to avoid banging his head on the way out.  
"Did you see how he took out those two ghosts?!?" exclaimed Tucker excitedly. He turned to Danny. "I have never seen you move so fast."  
"Must have been because of the training," sighed Danny. "I've had three years worth that I can't even remember."  
"It must have been intensive," commented Sam. "You look like you're in great shape."  
Danny flexed for a moment and looked at his arms. "Whoa! I got muscles."  
"And then some," agreed Tucker.  
"But we gotta get you back to normal," said Sam.  
"I suppose so," said Danny reluctantly.  
"And before your parents come home," she finished.  
Danny nodded. "I know," he said. "But before we figure out how to do that, I want to see what kind of changes I went through. Then we can figure how to make me normal again."  
Sam and Tucker looked at each other.  
"Can't hurt," said the techno-geek.  
"Fine," replied Sam.  
Danny concentrated for a moment and became human. Tucker and Sam started laughing.  
"What's so funny?" he asked.  
"I think Deadline forgot something," said Sam as she smothered a laugh.  
"What to you mean?" asked the older teen. He suddenly became aware that the clothing he was wearing was uncomfortably tight. He looked down and realised he was wearing the same thing he did before Epoch and Deadline kidnapped him. "Yow! That's not right. I wonder why she only gave me a new costume and not regular clothes." He noticed his shoelace was untied and bent down to tie it. There was a ripping noise behind him and Sam's and Tucker's laughter began anew. Danny's face went red as his friends held onto each other to keep from falling over.  
When she was able to speak again, Sam suggested that they look for clothes that would fit his human form. Danny, red faced, nodded, shifted back to his Phantom form and grabbed his two friends and phased through the ceiling up towards his parent's bedroom.

Danny Phantom paused for a moment in front of the bedroom mirror. "Wow," he said as he examined himself fully. "It must've been some training program, I look 'buff'." He quickly flexed and posed, trying not to feel too proud of his new appearance.  
"I wouldn't be surprised if that's all you did while under Deadline's spell," commented Sam.  
"That would suck," said Tucker. "Doin' nothing but eat, sleep and train. In my opinion, you're better off not remembering..."  
"Yeah, I suppose so," Danny replied as he turned away from the mirror to assist his friends.  
They were looking through the closets and drawers of Mr. and Mrs. Fenton.  
"Don't your parents wear anything else besides jumpsuits?" asked Tucker as he put away another orange hazmat suit.  
"Well, there's the clothes they wear when they go camping," suggested Danny. Sam found some of the aforementioned clothes belonging to his father. He shifted to human and tried them on.  
"And they don't fit you at all," said Sam.  
Danny stood still, feeling very foolish. His dad's pants were around his ankles and the flannel shirt was sliding off of one shoulder.  
"Please, no more," chuckled Tucker weakly. "It hurts to laugh..."  
In a vain effort to recover some dignity, Danny pulled the shirt back up over his shoulder. It slipped down again.  
"I think we're gonna have to ask for Jazz's help with this," said Sam.

Jasmine Fenton was doing homework on the kitchen table. She wanted to finish her extra credit report on the study of the effects of constant contact with ghosts could affect family life. She wondered occasionally if she was too close to the subject she was writing about.  
"Jazz?" came Danny's voice out of nowhere.  
The teenage girl frowned for a moment. Something sounded a bit off in Danny's voice. Discreetly, she reached down for her schoolbag.  
"Danny? Is that you?" she asked. "Why are you invisible?" She looked around the brightly lit kitchen, trying to find some other evidence of her younger brother.  
"I need your help, but I don't want you to freak out..." he said hesitantly.  
Jazz pulled her bag onto her lap and reached inside. "Why would I freak out?" she asked almost casually.  
"Well," said the disembodied voice. "I guess I will just hafta show you."  
A figure faded into view. And Jazz bit back a yelp. It was Danny, well, she was pretty certain it was Danny, but this is not her younger brother but someone a little older than she was. She frowned. There was only one other time that she could remember when she met a Danny older than she was...  
That was not a pleasant experience.  
She stood up and aimed the Fenton Peeler towards the older Danny in front of her. No evil older Danny Phantom was ever gonna catch her off guard again.  
"Jazz!" yelped her (possible) brother. "Wait!"  
"You better tell me you're not evil!" she demanded as the crazy anti-ghost device shook in her hand and started to glow. "Tell me!" she shouted again.  
"Jazz! Wait!" cried out the older Danny as he covered his head with his arms. "I'm not evil! I'm _NOT_ evil!"  
Jazz glared at him, not quite sure if she believed him. The other older Danny Phantom was a good actor too.  
"Jazz! Stop!" shouted Sam as she and Tucker ran into the kitchen.  
"That's our Danny!" yelled the geeky teen.  
"He's _NOT _evil!" they shouted together.  
The Fenton Peeler wavered for a moment. "Are you sure?" asked the teen holding it.  
"**_YES!_**" shouted all the others in unison.  
Danny put down his arms. "I'm just a bit... Older..." he said lamely.

Jack and Maddie Fenton were having the time of their lives. Both carried bags full of gadgets and products. They have just left a lecture about dealing with troubled teen-age ghosts. Jack was yawning, and Maddie was thoughtful.  
"You know, I think Jazz would have found that lecture enjoyable," she said. "It seems to be along the lines of what she is studying."  
"I dunno," yawned Jack. "I can't see a lecture like that as practical. I mean, we don't have any teenage ghosts in our family at all. So, what's the point?"  
"You may be right, but I kinda wish we didn't have to leave Jazz home with Danny. But he's not quite old enough to be left on his own yet."  
"I wouldn't worry. Kids grow up so fast these days. Before you know it, we won't be able to recognise him."

The four teenagers were now in Danny's room. Jazz shook her head in disbelief as the others told her the story of what happened.  
"If I was not looking at you right now," she commented, "I would definitely be having trouble believing this."  
"He doesn't look like a kid anymore," said Tucker.  
"No kidding. I have trouble recognising myself," muttered Danny as he sat on his bed and stared at his hands.  
"I dunno, Little --I mean 'Big' Brother," grinned Jazz. "I think you're easy to recognise. You still have your baby face. It's just the rest of you have grown." She held out a measuring tape. "Let's just see how much." She handed a note pad to Sam.  
"Um, what are you doing?" asked Danny as he stood up again.  
"Measuring you," replied his sister. "Sam, write this down..." She started to recite numbers. "Chest, forty-eight inches. Shoulders, twenty-six. Height, um, five foot, nine..."  
"Why did you start by measuring his chest," asked Tucker. "Aren't you supposed to start with the height?"  
"I'm doing it for Sam, of course," replied Jazz as she wrapped the tape measure around her brother's waist, arm and thigh. She recited more measurements.  
Sam blushed as she wrote, but she was grinning.  
"It's not a custom suit that I'm expecting," growled Danny.  
"I know," replied his sister. "But I want to take measurements anyway. "I would like to keep track of how much you've grown."  
Sam pulled her trusty camera out of her pocket and took a few quick pictures of the distracted half-ghost. "She can put them in her scrap book, along with these pictures."  
"I still find it hard to believe --that someone can age three years in about three hours. It's just not normal." Jazz put the tape measure away. She left Danny's room for a moment, and came back with a bundle of clothes. "Here," she said as she handed the clothes to him. "These should fit."  
"Um. Thanks."  
"How did you get the clothes already?" asked Tucker. "We just explained the story and you just took the measurements."  
Jazz smile and blushed as she headed to the door of the room. "I got them a while back. They were going to be a Christmas gift. I bought them at a sale and I figured that Danny would fit into them, eventually."  
The others looked at each other and shrugged.  
"You know something," said Tucker, "you're really weird."  
"So speaks the techno-geek who hangs out with the half ghost and the Goth girl," retorted Danny's older sister.  
"We'll leave so you can get dressed," said Sam to Danny as she grabbed Tucker by his elbow and dragged him out of the room.  
And the door closed.  
Danny looked at the door for a few moments. He sat back down on his bed and examined the clothes. He groaned. "They're exactly the same..." Except for the size, and the fact the shirt had no sleeves, the clothing were almost the same style he always wore as a human. "Well," he sighed and smiled. "At least I know I should be comfortable in them." He shifted from Phantom to Fenton and proceeded to change.

"So you're sure he'll come back, right, Coz?" asked Epoch as he leaned back in the chair. The two of them have been cleaning up the melted water from Danny's ice attack, but had decided to take a break.  
"He'll have no choice but to come back," replied Deadline as she inventoried the components to their scheme. Besides Skulker's gun and Desiree's potion, there was a containment box from the Box Ghost and a strange electronic device from Technus. "Who else is going to undo what I have done to him?"  
The boy ghost sat up. "Can you change him back?"  
Deadline put down the clipboard and looked over her shoulder to her cousin. "Actually, no, I can't."  
Epoch started to chuckle. "But the freak doesn't need to know that."  
The girl ghost smiled.

Because their parents were out, Jazz had ordered pizza. Tucker and Sam had permission to stay over for dinner.  
They sat around the table with four pizza boxes. Jazz handed out the plates.  
"So tomorrow, we have to find a way to change you back," said Sam as she started into a slice of the vegetarian special.  
"I suppose so," replied Danny Fenton as he reached for a couple of slices of the guacamole and sausage pizza. "But I find this body kinda cool." He finished each slice in a couple of bites.  
"Yeah?" asked Tucker. "But how cool do you think it'll be to explain your new bod to your parents?" He was already on his fourth slice of Meat Passion pizza.  
"Mom and Dad will completely freak out," said Jazz as she took another slice of her Hawaiian special. "Then you would have to explain to them just how you became three years older. You will not be able to keep your secret from them then, Danny."  
Danny swallowed his eighth and last slice of pizza and stood up and walked to the fridge. "Don't get me wrong, I know that you're right. But I just want to have some fun with this stronger body of mine before I have to give it up." He opened the door and pulled out a large salad, apples and some leftover chicken. "There can't be any harm in that, is there?"  
The others stared as the extra food was put on the table. "Dude," exclaimed Tucker. "You just ate an entire large guacamole and sausage pizza. You can't possibly still be hungry?!?"  
Danny had already finished the leftover chicken and was halfway through the salad when he stopped and noticed the amount he was eating. "Weird," he said, "but I am." He continued shoving food into his mouth.  
"It must have been the way you were trained," commented Sam as she watched the food disappear down the Fenton Black Hole.  
"Maybe," conceded Danny. He then belched. Jazz and Sam turned away in disgust. Tucker cheered.  
"Impressive," he commented.  
"Thanks," smirked Danny.  
Jazz leaned over to Sam. "Remember, it's just his body that matured," she said. "The rest of him is still a little boy."  
"Yeah," agreed the Goth girl. "I can see that." She looked up at the kitchen clock. It was 10:30. "Wow, it's getting late, I really have to get going."  
"Me too," agreed Tucker.  
"I'm gonna walk them home and be right back," said Danny as he put the dishes into the sink.

"See you tomorrow, Danny," said Tucker as he went inside.  
"See you," Danny called back and the door to the Foley household closed. Danny turned, walked away and went into a nearby alley. He grinned to himself. Now that he had seen both his friends home, he could take a moment to play. He shifted from human to ghost and took to the air.  
It was a beautiful night. The moon was nearly full and there were no clouds to block the stars. Once he was up high enough, he went flying towards home. But he paused for a moment.  
"I wonder how fast I can go now?" he asked himself. He turned around and headed towards the far side of the city. His legs merged into the more aerodynamic tail as he picked up speed. He felt the wind stinging his eyes and heard the wind whistle in his ears. It didn't take long at all before he reached the outskirts of the city. He laughed out loud. "Wow! That was fast. Maybe this new body of mine ain't so bad..."  
He flew back towards home, doing loop-de-loops along the way.

Epoch wrung out the mop for the last time. He and Deadline spent a good chunk of the afternoon mopping up the melted ice from the attack that Phantom made. He looked towards his cousin who was watching her pet freak through her view portal. She was smiling in an infatuated way.  
"_Maybe this new body of mine ain't so bad..._" he heard the half human freak say.  
"I'm so glad he likes it," said Epoch sarcastically. "We spent a lot of time making him that way."  
"Relax," said Deadline, as she turned away from her portal. "He'll be back here tomorrow."  
Epoch shook his head in amazement. "How do you know?" he asked.  
"He's going to find his new body is not as good as he thinks. He'll be experiencing problems soon and he will be back, asking for help. He will have to realise that what has happened to him comes at a price."  
The punk ghost grunted. He picked up the bucket and mop and left the room.

Danny woke up. He stretched and propped himself up on his elbows. The bed seemed smaller to him. His hair fell into his eyes and he pushed back the snow-white strands with a gloved hand.  
"Huh?" he asked himself. He pulled back the bed sheets and stared at the toes of his white boots. "Weird," he mumbled. "I slept as a ghost instead of changing back to human." He placed his feet on the floor. "Or did I change from human to ghost while I was sleeping?" He was pretty sure he went to bed as a human --he always went to bed as a human. Even if he was able to maintain his ghost form while unconscious, he would have remained human in case his parents were to check up on him.  
He stood up and was a little dizzy as he looked down to the floor from a different height than he was used to. He stumbled to his dresser and mirror and gasped at the tall white-haired teen in his reflection.  
"Right," he mumbled to himself. "I'm older now." He leaned on the dresser and touched his face. "This is still very weird." He concentrated and shifted to human form. He looked at the dark-haired, blue-eyed teen who was much bigger than the fourteen year old he was yesterday morning. He grinned. "You're lookin' good, Fenton."  
"Are you talking to yourself again?" asked Jazz from the open bedroom door. Danny spun around to face his sister and blushed. "You know you can't keep that body," she told him. "So don't get used to it."  
Danny scowled. "Yeah, I know. If we can find a way to change me back, that is."  
"Well," sighed Jazz. "Breakfast is almost ready. I hope you like oatmeal --I made a lot of it."  
Danny wanted to protest. Usually, he would hate oatmeal. But then his stomach grumbled loudly. He blushed even redder and Jazz grinned.  
"Oatmeal sounds good," he said at last. "I'll be down after I wash up."  
"See you at the table, Big Brother," said Jazz as she walked away.

Danny came into the kitchen. There was a large pot steaming on the stove and a jug of milk on the table, as well as a bowl of fruit and many slices of toast.  
Jazz was already eating. She paused and pointed a spoon towards the pot.  
"The oatmeal's in there," she said. "Help yourself."  
"Okay..." Danny picked up a bowl from the counter, and filled it up with oatmeal. He took it to the table and sat down. He looked at all the other food. "What's with this?" he asked as he gestured at everything on the table. He didn't wait for her reply before he started eating.  
His sister swallowed before replying. "Well, it's just a hypothesis, but judging on how much you ate last night, I figure you will eat at least all this and what is in the pot."  
Danny looked at his now emptied bowl. "Oh," he replied.  
"So eat up," she said, "then go find a way to change yourself back or at the very least, to find a way to keep yourself from eating us out of house and home."

It was late morning. Danny walked out of the Fenton Works building and saw that Tucker was already having his share of problems that day.  
Tucker Foley had run into Dash.  
Holding the smaller teen by the collar of his shirt, Dash was about to give him a close-up of his fist.  
"C'mon Foley," taunted the bully. "I just wanna know where Fenton is."  
"Have you tried knocking on the door?" asked Tucker. "Dude, we're right in front of his house."  
Neither Tucker nor Dash noticed Danny coming behind them. Danny was fighting to keep from laughing. He was bigger than Dash! This was going to be great!  
"I'd rather knock on you than the door," growled Dash as he pulled his fist back. But he couldn't bring it forward. It was being held in a firm grip.  
"That's enough, Dash," said a low yet familiar voice behind him.  
Dash turned his head just far enough to see the dark hair and the blue eyes of a familiar face. A face that appeared to be on a body much larger and stronger than Dash was certain it should be.  
"Fenton?" Dash gasped in disbelief.  
The much larger Danny Fenton grinned at him. "Why you want to hit my widdle fwiend?" he asked.  
Tucker chuckled at his friend's comment.  
"Um," gasped Dash as he was at a complete loss. His grip on Tucker's shirt loosened and the shorter teen had his feet on the ground once again.  
Once Tucker had straightened out his shirt, he looked towards the bully with a smirk on his face. "So, Danny?" he asked. "How do you want to get even with Dash? All at once or in a slow and painful manner?"  
Danny pretended to be deep in thought. He still had Dash's fist held in his hand. "That's a tough one," he said. "There are so many options available, it's kinda hard to decide..."  
Dash's eyes opened wide in horror. "No way, man!" He yanked his fist out of Danny's grip and ran down the street screaming.  
Danny and Tucker watched as their usual nemesis ran off. They looked at each other then started to laugh.  
Sam walked up to the boys and watched for a moment as the boys were being boys.  
"Very funny, you two," she said.  
"Oh come on, Sam," gasped Tucker. "You can't say he didn't deserve it."  
"You should've seen his face!" snorted Danny.  
"And that will be worth all the future pain you will encounter afterwards, right?"  
Danny blinked. "Um," he said.  
"Erg," said Tucker. "That's one way to think of it."  
"Besides, we have work to do."  
"Right," said the boys in unison.  
The three of them began walking.  
"So how do we begin figuring out how to get Danny back to normal?" asked Tucker.  
"We could go back to those two ghosts and somehow get them to change Danny back," suggested Sam.  
"Forget it," grumbled Danny. "The first thing Deadline would do is try to bring me back under her control. I don't want to get close to her."  
"Um, right." Sam remembered Danny saying the female ghost kissed him. Not that she was jealous, she reminded herself.  
They crossed the street.  
"So what else have we got?"  
"Um..." Danny started and a wisp of ghost breath escaped his lips. "We will have to figure this out later."  
A bolt of green energy hit the concrete just between Sam and Tucker. They jumped back in surprise. They all looked up to see Skulker bearing down on them.  
"Where are you, whelp?' called out Skulker, not quite recognising the tall human.  
Danny quickly looked around, crouched down behind his friends and shifted to his other form. He leaped up over Sam and Tucker and raced towards his adversary.  
"Looking for me?" he asked as he faced the hunter ghost.  
"Danny Phantom?" asked Skulker incredulously, using Danny's name for one of the rare times.  
"Who were you expecting?" asked Danny. "The Box Ghost?"  
Skulker goggled for a few moments longer then smiled. "Well. I'll be... You look stronger --more worthy a prize..."  
"Why, thank you," replied the half-ghost with mock modesty. He fired off several ecto-blasts in quick succession, using his index fingers like the guns of a sharp shooter. Several of Skulker's mounted weapons crumbled to dust and ashes. "But you forgot to mention that I'm much more a difficult prize to catch..."  
But Skulker wasn't at the end of his arsenal. He brought out one of his big guns. "Perhaps you have gotten better," he said. "But I still have more experience," he fired off more blasts towards Danny. They were dodged easily. The ecto-energy hit the nearby brick wall, leaving black scorch marks on the side of the Fenton Works building.  
"Hey!" shouted Danny. "You realise that I'm gonna hafta clean that up later, right?!?" He retaliated and fired back at the hunter ghost. Skulker tried to defend himself, but Danny's blasts were too quick. Once all of Skulker's weapons were disabled, the half-ghost fired off his freeze attack, quickly encasing the ecto-skeleton in ice.  
"Gotcha!" shouted Danny victoriously.  
Skulker grinned. "Not this time, Phantom," he smirked. The metal suit heated to a glowing red colour, quickly melting the ice. Soon he was free.  
Danny readied another plasma attack, knowing his enemy was out of ammunition.  
Instead of being worried, the older ghost grinned. "So this is what that girl was working on. I am impressed," he said. "Once again, the thrill of the hunt is kindled within me. You have won today, but I will come better prepared the next time. Be on your guard."  
"Get out of here already," growled Danny as he let the ecto-blast go.  
Skulker yelped and departed.  
By now, they have reached the park.  
Danny dove into some nearby bushes and came out as a human.  
The resumed walking. It was a nice day. The sun was shining, and not far off, the sound of a pickup softball game could be heard.  
"If it wasn't for the fact my parents would find out my secret and try to dissect me, I would love to keep this body," said Danny.  
"But what about the last great years of youth?" asked Tucker. "You're three years closer to being a responsible adult. That's three years of serious video game time lost."  
"And a three year gap between us," said Sam glumly.  
"What do you mean?" he asked. "I'm still me. It isn't like I am going to let anything like three measly years get in the way of me and my best friends."  
"There's also the matter of how you were trained," she continued. "All that was trained was your ghost half --That's gonna have to cause some problems somewhere."  
"I'm not sure of that," countered Danny. "I noticed that I have the same measurements no matter if I am ghost or human..."  
"Look out!" called a kid's voice in the distance.  
The three teens turned around, but Danny, who was still talking, turned a bit slower --Just in time to catch a softball with his forehead.  
"Danny!" cried out his friends.  
He stood stunned for a moment. Then his eyes crossed and he fell backwards into the bushes.  
"Huhn," said Tucker looking at his unconscious friend. "I would've thought his reflexes would have been faster."  
"Except that Danny's human half never trained like his ghost half did." Sam looked thoughtful as she bent down to check on him. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if..."  
She stopped talking as a flash of light appeared at Danny's waist, and he was transformed from Danny Fenton to Danny Phantom. He groaned and sat up.  
"Dude!" exclaimed Tucker in a hushed voice. "You went Ghost!"  
The half ghost was rubbing his head. "What?" he mumbled.  
"You changed from human to ghost when you lost consciousness," explained Sam.  
Danny looked down at his costume. "Whoa!"  
There was a yell behind them. "Hey! You okay?" A kid of twelve came running up to them.  
Danny had no time to shift back, so he sank into the ground and out of sight.  
The boy ran up. "Is everybody okay?" he asked breathlessly. "Did I hit anyone? I thought there was someone else..." He looked around for the missing third person.  
"He's fine," lied Tucker. "He had somewhere else he had to be."  
Sam picked up the baseball and handed it to the younger boy. "Here."  
"Thanks," said the boy with relief. He ran off to rejoin his friends at the game.

Sam and Tucker crossed the street from the park and entered a nearby alley. Danny faded into view.  
"That was weird," he said as he rubbed his forehead. The lump was still a fair size. "I should have stayed human."  
"Yeah," agreed Tucker. "Usually you would change from ghost to human when you're knocked out --not the other way around."  
"I know. And this morning, I woke up as a ghost --And I'm pretty sure I was human when I went to bed last night."  
"It must be because of the training," said Sam. "Since it was only your ghost half that was trained, it's stronger than your human half. It's now your dominant form."  
"No way," argued Danny as he shifted to his human form.  
Both Tucker and Sam gasped. Danny looked down at them.  
"What?!?" he asked. He looked down at his sneakers, jeans, and shirt. They looked fine.  
Both of the younger teens pointed up at his head. Danny felt at his face, and pulled down some of his hair to examine it.  
It was still white.

"How much longer do we hafta wait?" complained Epoch. He was working the kinks out of the chains of his weapons. "I know you like to watch your pet freak playing around, but I want to see him doing the stuff we had him trained for."  
"Relax," said Deadline. "He should be heading into the Ghost Zone any minute. You will need to intercept him and bring him here."  
The punk ghost's eyes opened wide in shock. "Hold it!" he cried out. "_Me?!?_ You want _me_ to intercept him?"  
"I said, 'relax'. You wanted my help because I'm the best at making plans. So, trust me." The female ghost walked back to the table and picked up the Box Ghost's containment box and the Technus' small odd device. She placed them in her cousin's hands. "Use these and you'll be fine."  
"What are these things?" Epoch asked.  
"The box is a containment unit, made for the specific task of containing Real World objects. The device from Technus is a power enhancer. Put the two together and you would have a device capable of capturing and containing Real World items and humans. Much like the thermos that Danny uses on ghosts."  
"Sweet," breathed the boy ghost. Then he looked up. "But he's gonna be a ghost --this won't work on him."  
Deadline took the items from her cousin and put them together. "True, it won't on Danny, but it will work on his friends..."  
Epoch laughed. "And that goody-goody freak would hafta do whatever I say to keep his friends safe." Epoch laughed. "Coz, you are a freakin' genius!"  
"Of course. That's why you wanted me to work with you." She smiled. She handed the box back. "You better get going. It shouldn't be much longer before he enters from his portal."  
"Do you know where's he gonna go?" asked the punk ghost.  
"Of course," replied Deadline. She gestured to her view portal which shimmered then displayed a certain part of the ghost zone. "He is going to head towards there," she said as she pointed.

Danny tried again. He concentrated and the ring of energy that always accompanies his transformations flashed again. After the glow went away, he reached up and grabbed his now black hair.  
"See?" he asked. "Nothing to panic about."  
"Except your eyes are still green," commented Tucker.  
Danny slapped a hand over his telltale eyes. "Oh, for Pete's sake!" he growled. He shifted back to his Phantom form. He grabbed his friends' wrists and turned invisible.  
"What are you doing?" asked Sam.  
"I am going to visit the one ghost who can help me out," replied Danny.  
They took off into the air.  
"Didn't you say you wanted to avoid Deadline?" asked Tucker.  
"No, no... I'm not going to see her," said Danny.

They phased through the walls of Fenton Works and into the lab in the basement. It was now late afternoon. The portal was open and the Spectre Speeder was pointed towards it. The engine was humming. Jazz was cleaning up.  
"I had a feeling you would be coming," she said as she held out the assorted weaponry.  
Sam grabbed the Fenton thermos, the Jack-o-nine-tails, and jumped into the speeder.  
Tucker grabbed the lipstick.  
"Why do you always grab the lipstick?" asked Jazz.  
"I figure I'll just stick to what I know," the geeky teen replied.  
"Thanks, Jazz," said Danny.  
"Try to come back normal," she said.  
"Gee, _thanks_, Jazz," replied Danny sarcastically.  
Both Spectre Speeder and half-ghost entered the ghost zone.

The Spectre Speeder and Danny were cruising through the Ghost Zone. Both teens inside and the half-teen outside were wearing the Fenton Phone communication devices. Doors were scattered all around as well as random spooks. They were heading in a direction that was pointed out by Danny earlier.  
"So where are we heading?" asked Tucker through the vehicle's intercom.  
"To see Clockwork," replied Danny.  
"Clockwork, the time ghost?" echoed Tucker.  
"That makes sense," commented Sam.  
"Yeah. Because time was manipulated to make me older, Clockwork would be the one who'd know how to change me back."  
They flew on.  
"Hey," said the geeky teen suddenly as he pointed ahead. "There's someone ahead of us."  
They got closer.  
Epoch was waiting for them.  
"Where d'you think you're goin', freak?" taunted the ghost punk.  
Danny paused, and the Spectre Speeder pulled up beside him. "What's it to you?" he asked.  
The punk ghost only laughed. "Y'know, I just gotta hand it to her... My cousin said you will be coming this way, and whaddaya know? She was right!"  
"Go away, Epoch," snarled Danny. "You're not getting me to help you or Deadline take over Amity Park."  
"Well, I know that you won't do it willingly," smiled the other ghost. From behind his back, he brought out an unusual looking latched box. "But I know how we can make you..."  
Epoch aimed the box towards the Spectre Speeder and opened it up. A glowing violet vortex swirled out of it. Danny watched it as it went by him harmlessly.  
"What's that?" asked the half-ghost. "A portable light show?" Then he heard his friends cry out. He looked beside him to see the glow surround the Spectre Speeder. It was over in a moment and he could only watch in horror as the violet glow sucked the real world vehicle like a vacuum and returned into the box.  
Epoch snapped the box closed, there was a very loud click. "There," said the purple and black haired punk. "Now what are you gonna do?"  
Danny was in front of the other ghost in a flash. He grabbed Epoch's shirt with both hands and pulled him closer. "Let my friends out of there... Now!" he shouted.  
"Sorry," Epoch smirked. "I don't have the key. If you want to have your friends out, you're gonna hafta go to my cousin and get it from her."  
"**_Arrrgh!_**" cried out the half ghost. "Fine!" he shouted into the other's face. Using the strength his strange new body had, he grabbed the box, and with a well placed foot, kicked Epoch far enough to give him a head start towards Deadline's lair.  
Epoch managed to stop his backwards momentum and was considering pursuing the half-human freak. He thought better of it. He remembered Deadline telling him that she had also put her pet freak through speed training. There was no way he could catch up.  
"Huhn," he said as Danny Phantom disappeared from sight. "I hope she's prepared for this," he muttered. He shook his head and shrugged. "What am I saying?" he chuckled. "Of course she is."

Danny flew towards Deadline's lair. He was furious. He hugged the box holding his friends closer to his chest. Grimly, he noted that as a well trained seventeen year old, he was covering the vast zone faster than as a skinny fourteen year old. He passed by ghosts he knew, like Johnny 13 and Youngblood, but ignored them as he flew past.  
"Don't worry, guys," he said to the box. "I'll get you out of there." He wasn't sure if his friends heard him or not.  
Soon he came to the large cuckoo clock that was Deadline's lair. "Why a cuckoo clock?" he muttered to himself. "I would have thought a ghost like Deadline would have something more modern."  
He paused. He knew he was going to be walking into a trap. Deadline, with all her planning would definitely have something ready for him. But what choice did he have? He had to free Sam and Tucker.

"Danny!" said Deadline. "What a nice surprise!"  
"Yeah, right. I seriously doubt anything is a surprise to you." His tail divided into legs and he set down on the floor.  
"Well, actually, I expected Epoch to be with you and for both of you to come a little later. But, it's not like it was totally unexpected for you to come by yourself." She smiled. "No one's perfect, I guess..."  
"I came like you wanted." He held out the odd silver box. "Now let my friends go!"  
"I will. Promise." She looked at him. "But you have to understand that I can't let you go as well. I've worked too hard to get you ready --I can't let all my work go to waste."  
"Your work?" he asked.  
"Yes. I have created the main plans for Epoch, with many variations. For example, if your friends did not come into the Ghost Zone with you today, I would have had Epoch go out and get them. Or your sister if they weren't available..."  
"So you can make plans..."  
She turned away for a moment. "I have set up the training room, stocked it with food, created your training schedule." She continued in a low voice. "I have made deals with Desiree, Skulker, the Box Ghost and Technus."  
She turned back, and Danny was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "They all expect me to fail. All of them! Including the Box Ghost! I will show them!" she cried. Mascara ran down her cheeks.  
Her anger blazed around her in a red aura. "They will not make fun of me again!" Her hair came out of its pony tail and began to whip about her.  
Danny was at a loss. "Look," he said. "I will do whatever you want, just let my friends go."  
He didn't know what else to do. What else could he say? This was so unlike the calm cool female ghost who appeared to always be in control. Her emotional outburst was throwing him off. Because of this, despite his well trained reflexes, he was caught totally by surprise by a sharp blow to the back of his head.  
The aura dissipated and her hair settled and stopped moving. "I know you will," she said in a calmer voice.  
"Well done, Coz," was the last thing Danny heard before losing consciousness.

When he came to, Danny found himself chained to the examination table in the same room he was in before he was put under the spell by Deadline. He blinked away the grogginess and focused on the female ghost and her cousin standing at the foot of the table. She had cleaned up and appeared to have herself in control once again. She was holding the box that was keeping Sam and Tucker prisoner.  
"Hey, your freak's awake," said the male ghost.  
"Oh," replied the female ghost distractedly.  
Danny was surprised to see what happened next.  
Epoch drew Deadline aside and provided her with a handkerchief.  
"Hey. Don't let those jerks upset you," he said soothingly to his cousin. "I know you are waaay smarter than they are, and soon they will know it too." He patted her on the shoulder.  
Deadline took a deep breath. "Don't worry," she replied. "I'll be fine." Despite the calm on her face, her voice cracked just a little bit.  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah," she insisted. "I'm sure."  
"Cool," replied the punk ghost. "Now you can get your freak ready to do his thing." He looked at Danny for a moment and shrugged. "Just do what she says, freak," he said to him. "Or else." He left the room and went down the hallway.  
Danny tested the manacles and chains around his wrists.  
"Good morning, Danny," she said. "You've been unconscious all night."  
"All night?" he asked incredulously.  
"That's right," Deadline replied. "Epoch must have hit you harder than I would have thought him capable."  
The half-ghost shook his head to clear it. "Why are you helping him?" he asked her. "You're obviously very smart, so why are you doing what he says?"  
The calm expression she wore slipped and Danny saw something very familiar. Her face reminded him of how he felt on the days knowing that Dash, Kwan and the other bullies were waiting to pound on him.  
She took a deep breath before replying. "Say what you want about Epoch, but other than my uncle, he is the only one who never made fun of me. He has enough confidence in my abilities to know what I can do. So I will help him." Her face resumed its mask of confidence. "So, in order to help him, I have to get you to obey my orders."  
Danny strained against the clamps that held him.  
"Sorry, Danny," said Deadline. "I really can't let you escape again."  
"Hey!" All pity he felt a moment before was gone now. "You promised that you would let them go!" he shouted.  
"Yes, I did." The girl ghost walked over to her table, carrying the box. She picked up a silver key, inserted it into the lock and turned it. With a loud click, the box opened and the nearly grown half-ghost could here the grumbling from within.  
"Get your boot out of my ear!" came Tucker's voice. He sounded angry.  
"You get your boot out of my ear first and then we'll talk," Sam's voice was equally as cross.  
Deadline tipped the box over and the violet vortex came out and deposited the Spectre Speeder onto the floor. It landed with a thud.  
"Ow!" Tucker's voice cried out from within.  
The door opened and Sam rushed out. "Danny!" she cried out as she saw him imprisoned.  
"I'm all right," he said. "How about you guys?"  
"Well, I think me and Tucker got a little bit closer to each other than either one of us ever wanted to be..."  
"But we're good," finished Tucker.  
"Yes," said Deadline. "They're fine. So, now that I have kept my promise, you are mine."  
"Say what?" asked Tucker.  
Epoch came back into the room, carrying a load of white fabric.  
"Hey! Why'd you let these humans in here?" he asked his cousin.  
"They're here to insure Danny's cooperation," replied Deadline.  
"Okay..." the male ghost scratched his head. "Whatever works, I guess." He dropped the white cloak carelessly on the nearby table.  
"Hey!" protested Deadline. "Be careful with that! Don't you realise how much of a pain it is to iron that out?!?"  
"Sorry, sorry..." muttered her cousin as he carefully picked up the cloak and folded it back up. He looked towards Danny, still chained to the examination table. He put the folded cloak back onto the table. His nunchucks appeared in mid-air and he grabbed them. Swinging them rapidly, he began to advance towards Tucker and Sam. "So, how much longer you gonna take before you bring your freak under control again?"  
"Not much longer," replied the female ghost. "Right, Danny?"  
The struggling half-ghost stopped struggling and deflated. "Yeah," he said finally. "I'll keep my promise. --Just don't hurt them."  
"I promise," replied Deadline. She picked up her little bottle and started to walk towards Danny.  
"Danny!" shouted Sam. "No!" She started to run towards her imprisoned friend.  
"I don't think so." The male ghost punk was fast. He let one nunchuck go and it disappeared. Then Epoch grabbed her by her shoulders and held her back. "Sorry, babe," he said. "But I can't let you go."  
"Danny made a promise to acquiesce to my wishes once I let you out of the box," confirmed Deadline.  
"Sorry Sam, Tucker," said Danny softly.  
"No way..." muttered Tucker.  
Deadline took a sip from the small bottle and reached up and kissed her prisoner.  
Danny cringed for a moment before the spell took hold.  
"**_NO!!!_**" cried Sam. She strained against her captor's grip.  
"Sorry doll, but the freak can't hear you now."  
Sam turned around to face the male ghost. He shifted his grip to her wrists.  
"You're monsters! Both of you!" she shouted.  
"Hey!" chuckled the punk. "Whaddya know? You're a real fighter..."  
"And you're a real jerk," snarled Sam.  
"It's a shame, really," said Epoch smirking as he brought his face closer to Sam's own. "You'd be cute if you weren't human."  
There was a loud snap. The manacles holding Danny Phantom to the examination table came open all at once and the half-ghost stood up. His face remained blank as he surveyed the room.  
"Danny?" asked Tucker as he took a step towards his friend, his voice rising in panic. "Talk to me, buddy!"  
But there was no reaction on Danny's face. It was as if his best bud didn't even exist.  
Deadline chuckled. "Sorry Tucker. Danny can't hear you now. He only hears me."  
"Now what do I do?" muttered the techno-geek.

"Honey! Look!" shouted Jack Fenton. "They're showing that Phantom kid on TV!"  
"Ooh! Really?" asked Maddy Fenton as she put down the ghost tracker she was working on.  
The Fentons were staying in a ritzy hotel room. So far, it has been an interesting weekend for the two ghost hunters. At least for Maddy. Jack had some trouble sitting through the lectures, but he did have fun at the booths. After the third purchase that cost more than a thousand dollars, Maddy took away the credit cards and hid them. They really couldn't afford to spend much, although she was anticipating the moment she could try out the Ecto-Whizzer. She wanted to make puree out of that white-haired ghost-boy.  
"_Today, Amity Park is still waiting for news of its own ghost hero, Danny Phantom. He was last seen battling two unknown ghosts two days ago. Through some sort of unknown measures, the unknown ghosts brought down the heroic young spook and carted him away to parts unknown through some type of portal. Reports also say two teens were also temporarily caught up in the battle and were momentarily stunned, but have come through unharmed._"  
There was some camera footage of the fight through the report. Two ghosts, a male and a female were fighting the well-known Danny Phantom. The two teens were very familiar to the ghost fighting couple.  
"Maddy?" asked Jack. "Look. It's Danny's little friends. Why do you think they were doing so close to that Phantom kid and a battle between ghosts?"  
"I don't know," replied Maddy as she picked up the phone. "But I am going to call home and make sure that Danny is okay."

Jazz let out a breath of relief.  
"Whew!" she said as she collapsed on top of her books on the kitchen table. "I finally finished the rough draft."  
Normally she would be working on her desk in her bedroom, but she wanted to be close to the basement lab entrance in the kitchen for when her brother and friends finally came home from the ghost zone. Danny and the others have been gone all night and since she now had her homework up to date, she can concentrate on worrying about them.  
The phone rang. She went over to the phone and looked at the call display. "Oh! Mom and Dad's hotel..." She picked it up. "Hello?"  
"Hi, Jazz dear. Just calling to see how you're doing."  
"I'm doing fine Mom. Just finishing up on my report."  
"That's nice dear. How is Danny doing? Can I speak to him?"  
"Um, Danny's not here right now. He went out with Sam and Tucker."  
"Well." There was a pause on the other end. "To be honest Jazz, your father and I were just watching a broadcast from Amity Park and it had that Danny Phantom ghost fighting some other ghosts. I saw both Tucker and Sam in that news cast and I am wondering if Danny is okay."  
Jazz swallowed. "Danny? He's fine, Mom." She gave a weak chuckle. "In fact, Danny seemed to be very mature this weekend. You wouldn't recognise him for a kid."  
"Really?" Maddy's pride could be heard over the phone. "That's good to hear. Maybe next time we go to a convention, we can trust him on his own and you can come with us. How's that sound?"  
"Sounds great, Mom," replied the nervous teen.  
"Then we'll do it. Oh, before I forget. Your father and I will be coming home tomorrow."  
"**_What?!?_**" cried out Jazz, her voice rising for a moment in panic before she got it back under control. "But doesn't the convention last for two more days?"  
"Well, yes," admitted Maddy Fenton. "But your father has been buying so much ghost hunting gear that we don't have much money left. "Why are you concerned?" her voice took up a note of suspicion. "Is something wrong?"  
"No! I mean, no, there's nothing wrong Mom. We were just a bit slack on keeping the kitchen clean. There's just a few things Danny and I will have to pick up before you get here. But we'll have the place spotless before you get home."  
"If you say so," replied her mother, then her voice brightened. "Well dear, I gotta go. Your father's trying to find the credit cards I hid. See you tomorrow. Love you!"  
"See you Mom. I love you too. Bye." Jazz hung up the phone. She chewed on her nails for a moment in nervousness. "You better get back to normal soon, Danny," she muttered.

Tucker tried calling out to his friend again. "Danny!" he shouted. "Snap out of it!"  
Both of the ghost cousins started chuckling.  
"Too bad the freak can't hear you," laughed Epoch. "Otherwise I would be shaking in my boots right about now."  
"You should be shaking," snarled Sam as she tried struggling out of the male ghost's grip. She raised a heavily booted foot and brought it down hard on one of Epoch's. He yelped in pain and surprised and loosened his grip on Sam long enough for her to break free. She started to run towards Danny. "Tucker!" she shouted. "C'mon!"  
"No!" cried out Deadline. "Danny! Restrain them!" she commanded.  
"Yes," replied Danny as he fired off a frozen beam of energy, creating a wall of ice. Epoch barely got out of the way as the ice nearly trapped him in the one side of the room with the humans.  
"Watch what you are doing, freak!" he leaped as he rolled to safety.  
Sam and Tucker tried to stop but ended up crashing into the ice.  
Tucker peeled his face free. "Nice try," he said, "but we're human. The walls of the ghost zone can't stop us."  
He and Sam ran towards one of the walls, knowing that within the Ghost Zone, humans were like ghosts, and Real World items and people were intangible in it.  
"Good thinking Tucker!" cheered Sam.  
But the two teens crashed into the walls of Deadline's home.  
"Sorry," said their hostess. "The walls of my place have a special type of ecto-field due to the time warping abilities of some of the rooms. You won't be able to slip through them."  
Tucker and Sam slid off the wall and onto the floor. "Now she tells us," groaned the techno-geek. Danny watched emotionlessly.  
Deadline took the elbow of the teen-age ghost boy. "Time to go, Danny," she said. "Put on your cloak." She opened up a portal to Amity Park. Danny put on the cloak and pulled the hood over his head. She looked to her two prolonged 'guests' and smirked. "We'll be going now. You two are welcome to make yourselves at home." She turned to her cousin and ensorcelled servant. "Follow me," she said and stepped through the portal.  
Tucker turned to Sam. "So now what?" he asked her.  
Sam sighed from her slumped position on against the wall. "Why can't you ever take the initiative?" she complained.


	3. Rumble Time

**Growing Pains**  
_A 'Danny Phantom' Fanfic_  
By Niki 'NeeP' Paradis 

Chapter Three: Rumble Time!

Deadline stepped through the portal and into the street. Epoch and Danny followed after her. Cars screeched to a stop as the three figures suddenly appeared. She smiled as she looked at her companions. Anticipation shone on the male ghost's face, he was more than ready for what was coming. Danny's white cloak hid the blank look on his face. Currently incapable of independent thought, he could only follow the commands his master gave him.  
"Let's get the party started Coz!" crowed Epoch. "Why waste time?!?"  
The master planner paused. She anticipated she would only have a minimal amount of time to get her plan into action. She really wanted to accomplish as much as she could.  
"Danny," she commanded. "Clear the street." She watched as her ensorcelled ghost take a deep breath. She walked around him until she stood behind. She motioned Epoch to join her.  
Danny let loose with a sonic outburst that tore through the street and threw the vehicles aside. It was the Ghostly Wail, and although Deadline didn't dedicate much time in Danny's training to develop it, it was much more deadly than the other times she has witnessed it. She covered her ears and watched as the destruction went on.  
Epoch was whooping and cheering. "Wicked!" he howled in glee. "Keep it up, freak!"  
And the wail went on, shaking the ground around them. And when it had stopped, the sound of car alarms and dogs barking in the background could be heard. Overturned cars, wrecked streetlamps and signs were scattered all around. People climbed from the wrecks and ran away screaming.  
"Whoo-hoo!" shouted Epoch, jumping in front of Danny and calling after the running humans. "That's right, losers! Run! There is plenty more where that came from!"  
Deadline frowned as she looked around at all the damage. She had never expected so much destruction. It made her feel uneasy. She swallowed. Still, a plan's a plan...  
"Danny, scare them off," she said. Her pet ghost flew off. "Just don't hurt them..." she added softly.

Tucker and Sam were cutting their way out through the ice, using the laser lipstick.  
"Ha!" crowed Tucker. "And Jazz thought I was nuts to hang onto this."  
"Yeah, whatever," said Sam. "Just hurry. We gotta stop Danny from doing something he'll regret."  
"Laser cutting is a precise art, Sam," lectured Tucker. "You can't go too fast, or the laser won't cut all the way through."  
The laser beam stuttered and died off.  
"You can't go too slow either," said Sam. "Otherwise the battery dies before the cut is done."  
They looked at the cut they have made. It was circular, with only a couple of inches of unbroken ice holding it in place.  
"So close," moaned the techno geek and he held the dead tool out in front of him. "Why?!?" he yelled at the lipstick, "Why did you have to let me down, O trustworthy lipstick..." He covered his face with a forearm in dramatic despair.  
"Wait," interrupted Sam. "Maybe it's enough." She heaved on the ice plug with her shoulder. There was no final crack.  
"Maybe we need something heavier," suggested Tucker and he looked behind at the table. There wasn't much, just an ugly silver box with an odd device on it. He went and picked it up. "Here, try this," he said as he handed the box over.  
The Goth girl took the box and smashed it into the ice with all her strength. The entire ice-wall cracked, shuddered and fell apart. She threw aside the crushed box.  
"It worked great. Thanks, Tuck." Sam jumped over the pile of ice and ran for the Spectre Speeder. Tucker climbed in after her.

Jazz was watching TV trying to take her mind off her big little brother when the documentary she was watching was interrupted. She groaned as 'The Life and Times of America's Greatest Ghost Hunters' was cut off.  
"_This is Dan Blather of Channel Six News interrupting with this latest news. Three ghosts have been witnessed wrecking havoc on the streets of Amity Park. Reports state two of these ghosts were previously seen battling our own ghost hero, Danny Phantom, two days ago._"  
The screen changed to view the wreckage in the street, then panned up towards the three ghosts the program was talking about. There were two punkish looking ghosts and a third tall one with a heavy white cloak. The shorter male and female ghost were basically terrorising the public, he with nunchucks and her with a type of laser pistol. The news broadcast showed the destruction the trio have already wreaked. The camera then focused on the on-scene reporter, the woman Jazz remembered called Harri Chin.  
"_Already the three unknown ghosts have turned Main Street in a war-zone. Ambulances and police are already on the scene, however there are no reports of any serious injuries. Eye-witness reports have identified two of the ghosts being the ones fighting Amity Park's own here, Danny Phantom. They have reportedly defeated Phantom and bore him away to parts unknown through a portal of unknown type. Danny Phantom has not been seen since Thursday afternoon's battle. One of the most important unanswered questions that the citizens of Amity Park want to know is: Where is Danny Phantom? Why is he not here fighting these other ghosts?_" A car went flying overheard and crashed into a lamppost behind her. "_Channel Six news will keep you posted as we learn more. This is Harriet Chin, Channel Six News._"  
Jazz turned off the T.V. with the remote and stood up. "Omigosh! Danny!" she exclaimed. She knew the identity of the hooded ghost and she was glad the rest of Amity Park didn't know. She also knew that her brother would not support the other two ghosts under his own free will --which meant that he didn't have any once again. "I've got to stop those two freaks from using my little brother! Um, I mean, my big brother! Um, whatever!"  
She ran off.

"Where are we going?" asked Tucker as the Spectre Speeder sped through the Ghost Zone.  
"We're gonna find Clockwork. He's the one that Danny wanted to see, so maybe he will be able to help us out."

Deadline and Epoch were flying down the street after Danny, still cloaked, who was clearing the way with plasma blasts. People were running and taking cover.  
"We need to take City Hall," said Deadline. "It's the governing centre of Amity Park. Once we get a hold of that, we'll have control!"  
"That'll be easy," said Epoch.  
"Probably not as easy as you think," replied the girl ghost. "The mayor is Vlad Masters, or Vlad Plasmius."  
"Plasmius?!? You mean we have to go against that turkey?!?"  
"Of course not!" said Deadline. "We don't have to! --Danny will go against him."  
Epoch crowed with glee. "That's gonna be fun to watch!" he laughed.

Vlad Masters was already aware of the ghosts who were rampaging in his city. He had his mini cameras posted all around the city. He had watched the reports from two days before when young Danny was defeated and taken away by the two ghosts. He didn't know what had happened to Daniel, but if the two ghosts were able to catch the boy and defeat him, he should take the moment to consider how they would affect his own plans.  
He had called a news conference so he can try to calm the city down. It would do him no good if somehow the peons of Amity Park thought he was not doing his job of keeping them safe.  
"People of Amity Park," he spoke clearly through the microphone. "I assure you that as Mayor of this city, I will make certain everything will be done to keep everyone safe." He spread his arms and gestured to the cameras to take in the scene around them. Tanks surrounded City Hall and armed militia were dispersing and patrolling the street. He smiled as he watched the voters begin to relax.  
Screams were then heard down the street and Vlad mentally prepared to test these new opponents. "Hah! Those fools! Do they know who they are dealing with?" he chortled to himself. People looked towards him with raised eyebrows. "Um. Did I say that out loud?" he asked. He looked down at his podium. Yup, he did and the microphones were still on. "Oh, Buttermilk Biscuits!" he muttered to himself.

By the time the three ghosts have reached City Hall, police cars and tanks have already surrounded the civic centre. At the top of the steps, standing at the podium, stood Vlad Masters, mayor, evil mastermind, part-time ghost and full-time football fanatic. He glared at the oncoming ghosts.  
"Who dares attack the mayor of Amity Park?!" demanded the white haired older gent. Then he heard a clearing of many throats. He looked around at the angry people surrounding him. "And the people?!" he amended.  
"We do, old man!" shouted Epoch. He spread his arms wide while floating over the crowd. "Hello, Amity Park!" he cried out. "The name's Epoch," he gestured to the female ghost, "and this is my cousin. You can call her Deadline! Welcome to our party!"  
"You're welcome to try," retorted Masters. "But I think you will find that Amity Park will not go down without a fight!"  
The members of the swat team surrounding the mayor came out front and aimed their weapons towards the outspoken ghost. Under the distraction of the invading ghosts and the cover provided by the gents with guns, Vlad split himself in two. The two Vlads grinned evilly. Then a ring of dark energy formed at the waist of one of them and he shifted from human to ghost. Vlad Masters watched the oncoming ghosts as Vlad Plasmius slipped through the brickwork of the civic building.

It took a while and after asking various ghosts for directions, the Spectre Speeder reached the home of the time ghost, Clockwork.  
Clockwork's lair was filled with clocks of all types and sizes. Tucker and Sam walked through the room with caution.  
"Hello?" called out Sam. "Clockwork?"  
"It's us, Danny Phantom's friends," said the other teen, "Tucker and Sam." Then in a lower voice, he added, "Do you think he's home?"  
Sam ignored him. "We need your help," she called out.  
There was a swirl of green mist and the time control ghost, Clockwork, appeared before them as an ancient ghost.  
"I know," he said as he changed to the form of a toddler. "I know everything. Remember?"

Deadline listened to exchanged between her cousin and the human Vlad Masters. She smiled and shook her head.  
"I supposed Epoch earned this," she murmured, half to herself and half to Danny. "It is his idea to take over Amity Park after all. But I wonder if all this taunting is necessary..." She then saw the guns of the SWAT team come up. She saw the mayor disappear under cover for a moment. "Here's where Plasmius splits into two, one will stay below as human and the other will come up to challenge us shortly." She looked towards her cloaked servant. "Prepare yourself for battle, Danny," she commanded the hooded figure next to her. .  
"Yes," was the reply.  
Shots were fired upon the ghosts. It was nothing for the three ghosts to avoid the laser blasts.  
Epoch backed up until he reached his cousin. "Oops," he chuckled. "I think I made someone mad." He grinned and using his nunchucks, he fired some ecto-blasts back towards the armed humans. No one was hit, but it was enough to scatter the people.  
"Well, that mad person should be showing up right about now," Deadline said. She pointed to the oncoming ghost.

Plasmius flew up to meet the three ghosts. He has worked hard to gain control of the city --he was not about to loose it to a bunch of juvenile delinquent ghosts. "You want my city?! You will have to fight me to do so. And if you know my reputation, you will know that I won't go down easily."  
"I'm not planning to fight you, you old freak," taunted the male ghost punk. He then gestured to the cloaked figure behind him. "He will. I'm just gonna play with the humans."  
The female ghost punk said something in a low voice to the cloaked ghost and flew away. With a gun that looked like it was borrowed from Skulker, she fired upon the people below. The cloaked ghost came speeding towards Plasmius, firing off plasma blasts. He barely got his ecto-shield up in time to deflect them, and he could feel the strength of the blasts through his defences.  
"Oh! So you think you're tough," chortled Plasmius. He dropped his shield momentarily, firing off plasma blasts of his own. The hooded ghost blocked the blasts with a shield of his own. The evil half-ghost grinned. "Very good," he said. "But I doubt you're anywhere near my league."  
The cloaked ghost raised his arm and made a gesture that was not obscene but made a taunt that was as obvious as if it was shouted. **_Bring it on!_**  
Vlad Plasmius growled and charged at his opponent.

Jazz ran through the crowded and chaotic streets, trying to push her way through. Besides the usual Saturday traffic, the military, police, reporters and swarms of frightened people made it very difficult to find her brother. She had to park just outside of downtown as it was, there was no getting closer using her vehicle.  
"Something must have happened," she muttered as she pushed through the people. "He didn't come home last night, Sam and Tucker are nowhere to be found... Now he's fighting alongside the two bad guys who changed him in the first place." She let out an exasperated sigh. "Sometimes I wish I had a normal brother and not one with ghost powers..." She then looked up to the sky and saw the purple-haired female ghost and headed towards her.

Deadline spotted the red-haired human and she aimed her borrowed Bioneuro-Disruptor ray at her. "Sorry hon," she said as she acquired Jazz in her sights. "Can't have you risking my plans..." She was distracted as Epoch crowed as he flew up next to her.  
"Allow me, Coz," he said and fired a beam of ecto-energy from his nunchucks towards the Fenton girl.  
Jazz saw the incoming beam and barely got out of the way in time. The beam scorched her sweater as it went past and she was hit with small chunks of asphalt as the beam tore up the road just next to her.  
"Whoops!" laughed Epoch. "Missed her! I will have to try again!" He got ready to swing his arm again.  
"No!" shouted Deadline and she grabbed her cousin's arm. "If Danny sees her get hurt, it may be enough to shock him out of the spell. You don't want him to turn on us, do you?!?"  
"Okay, okay..." replied the ghost punk, backing away. "Sorry about that Coz. I didn't know." He flew off, ready to have some more fun with the humans.  
"You mean you didn't think," she sighed softly when she was certain he wasn't near enough to hear her. She tried to find Jazz again, but the girl was nowhere to be found.

The fight in the sky continued.  
Plasmius divided himself into four other figures. The cloaked ghost matched him, copy to copy and as easily done as Vlad.  
"Oh, very good," jeered the evil half-ghost. "So you think you can take me on?" The other ghost simply floated and glared dangerously. Vlad laughted. "All right then. Come and get me!"  
The ghostly figures grappled and the cloaked ghosts overpowered the older ghosts and the duplicates disappeared as they were defeated. Then only one remained. The four white covered figures surrounded the momentarily stunned ghost. One lunged at Plasmius and as the older half-ghost focused on his attacker, he was blasted in the back with an icy cold beam which quickly encased him in solid ice. Before Plasmius could break out, he was hit from above by the fists of the third cloaked figured. The force of the blow sent the evil ghost to the ground with a crash. The four figures merged into one and came speeding towards Plasmius and landed as the older ghost climbed to his feet.

Jazz had fallen once again when Vlad Plasmius hit the ground, causing the street to shake. Despite the direness of the situation, she was more than pleased to see the evil Cheese-head get the pounding he deserved. But she had to stop Danny before he destroyed his opponent. The Danny she knew would not kill in cold blood and she knew that her little brother would agonise over the deed for the rest of his (half) life if he did --even if it was while under the control of someone else.  
"I'm coming Danny," she cried out but was drowned out by the noise of the debris falling back onto the street.

"Very good!" Vlad Plasmius was breathing a little more heavily than normal. He didn't think there was a ghost who keep pace with him, let alone overpower him. He still believed it. This strange ghost had more physical strength than him, but was nowhere near his level of power --he was sure of it.  
"Do you think you can defeat me?" he asked. "I have more power than you can know --I have only shown you a small tidbit. I can create hundreds of duplicates, and I didn't. I wanted to test your powers and I find them lacking."  
The hooded ghost just stood there, as if oblivious to the boasting. He was also not attacking, so Vlad took the moment to ponder.  
"There is something strange about you," he mused half aloud. "I don't believe you are fighting to your full potential, and you seem to do no more than what you're told." He looked to his opponent, but the hood hid the other ghost's face so Plasmius could not get a confirmation or a denial. "You must be under the control of someone... Most likely by that female ghost with the purple hair, right?"  
Again no answer, but Vlad wasn't expecting one.  
"There is also something very familiar about your attacks," he said as he started to walk around the stationary ghost. "If you were much shorter I would say that it was young Daniel attacking me, but you are much stronger than that child..." Noticing movement, he then looked up, and saw the female ghost floating overhead, watching them both.

Deadline sighed to her self as she watched her ghost-boy standing still. "I suppose I should have known better than just command him to 'Knock Plasmius down. So much for just testing Plasmius." She grinned. "Oh well." She then called down to her pawn. "Attack Plasmius! Attack until he falls unconscious or changes back to human!"

Plasmius prepared himself as he watched the cloaked ghost start to move again, a firey ball of green ecto-energy forming in one white-gloved hand. The people who came close to the two ghosts while things appeared quiet started to back away. Vlad shrugged. They were the peons of Amity Park, they were not his concern at the moment. Then he thought again. They were the voting public and it is up to Vlad Masters to protect his voters.  
Masters called out from his podium back on the top of the stairs of City Hall. "Someone get those people away from those ghosts!" he commanded the troopers around him. "They will get hurt if they are too close. Ignore the ghosts fighting on the ground --they are not the immediate threat. Instead, focus on the ghosts attacking our people!" There. That should buy his other self some time.  
Armed troopers started to direct the crowd away from the two combating ghosts. Plasmius smiled in relief. As long as Vlad Masters can keep the voters 'safe', then it doesn't matter what Vlad Plasmius does in public. He turned back to his cloaked opponent --just in time to see the green glowing ecto-energy ball leave his adversary's hands and catch him in the gut.  
The blast forced him backwards, towards the crowd of people who were being evacuated from the area. The humans scattered and Plasmius hit the stone wall of a building instead. The wall cracked under the force of the blow, but fortunately held up. Vlad recovered quickly and came charging back at the strange ghost. But before he could reach him, a young woman came running up and stopped between them.  
Vlad recognised her immediately. "Jasmine?" he asked and tried to stop his momentum. "Why would dear Maddy's daughter be doing here?!?"  
The red-haired teen put out a hand in both his and the other ghost's direction. "Stop! Both of you, stop!" she commanded.  
Plasmius skidded to a halt and the cloaked ghost hesitated.

Jazz glared at the on-coming ghost one moment, and at the cloaked one the next. Fortunately neither one moved. The cloaked ghost would not attack as long as Jazz was in the way. He was only told to attack Plasmius, not anyone else.  
"What's the matter with you, girl?" demanded Vlad Plasmius of her. "You have been hanging around your brother too long. Do you think you can fight ghosts too? Then you are as delusional as your father!"  
She knew she was taking a chance. Her sweater was scorched and she was bruised from the attack she took earlier, but she knew that she had to stop her brother. "Hold it, Vlad," she said and ran up to her brother. She grabbed his arm through the cloak in an attempt to get his attention. "Danny! Stop!! What are you doing?!?" she cried out. The hooded ghost shook his arm and loosened her grip, but she still had hold of the cloak. She continued pulling at the fabric.  
The clasp came undone and the cloak came off. Vlad got to see his opponent for the first time. He was flabbergasted. "It is Danny Phantom?!?" he asked. "I knew those attacks were familiar!"  
Sure enough, the ghost in front of him shared the same features as Jack Fenton's half-ghost son, but this Danny had already proven he was a lot more experienced and better trained than the boy Plasmius was used to fighting. But there was no doubt that this was indeed Danny Phantom, just older.  
The crowd gasped in recognition and started to come closer. There was some grumbling as they realised it was their hero attacking.  
"Stay away!" shouted the girl. "He is under a spell and can't control his actions!" She then turned back to her still brother. He was trying to form another ecto-blast between his hands. "Danny, stop!" pleaded Jazz. "People are going to get hurt."

Deadline watched what was happening below. She was a bit concerned.  
"What's happening, Coz?" asked Epoch as he joined her.  
"Something I did not plan on," replied the female ghost with mild surprise.  
"Say what?" The ghost punk didn't like the sound of that. "You're kidding!"  
"Come on," she hissed, grabbing her cousin's wrist. "We gotta stop this."  
They descended towards the confusion.

The ensorcelled ghost boy paused as he recognised the redhead. The green glow around Danny's eyes faded a bit. "Jazz?" he asked. "What are you doing here?" His voice was quivering as he fought for control of himself.  
"Ignore her Danny," called out Deadline as she and Epoch landed on the ground behind him. "Just get Plasmius."  
The green glow increased around his eyes and in his hands, but Danny withheld his attack. "I don't want to," he muttered.  
"Danny, you have to fight her!" said Jazz urgently.  
"He's fighting it, Coz," commented Epoch.  
"I will fix that," said the female ghost. "Danny, you have to listen to me! Ignore Jazz, and attack Plasmius!" she called out.  
"**_Arrgh!_**" growled Danny Phantom as Deadline's spell tried to take control. But the half-ghost was still fighting the commands.  
Plasmius shook his head and grinned. There wasn't going to be a better opportunity to deal with his opponent than now.  
"Well, I'd like to say I hate to do this," he said with a grin while flexing his hands. "But I'd be lying. I don't know what happened to you, Daniel, but you have definitely improved. But maybe a little too much a little too quickly. I don't want you to become a risk to my plans too big for me to ignore. So..." he raised his hands to do an ultimate blast --Only to be hit from a blast fired off from Deadline, still standing behind Danny. He looked up in surprise as the female ghost blew on the muzzle of her weapon.  
"I know that stung," she said. "This weapon was specially designed to work on humans and half-humans. But you are not blasting Danny away."  
"You..." He felt a numbness spreading through out his body. He knew he would be able to fight it off in a few moments, but he didn't know that there could be a weapon capable of hurting him like that. He knew his priority had to get rid of that blasted disruptor. As soon as he was able to move, that is.  
Jazz saw a moment she had to take. She leaned closer to Danny, fully aware of the energy blast he was forming. "You'll come through little brother," she whispered as gave his a sisterly kiss on the cheek...  
Or attempted to. Her lips brushed his skin when a blast from Epoch's nunchucks knocked her back by almost a hundred feet. The girl landed heavily, bouncing and rolling on the pavement. She tried to get up but collapsed on the ground.  
"**_Jazz!_**" shouted Danny. The touch of lips on his cheek and the shock of seeing his sister getting hurt was enough to startle him out of the spell he was under. But he was furious beyond reasoning. His sister was hurt --he didn't know how badly and it was the fault of the two ghosts who were manipulating him.  
He spun around and faced the two ghost cousins. "**_You!_**" he shouted. "You _hurt_ her!" The plasma energy ball suddenly grew an immense size in his hands. He brought it up to hurl at the two ghosts who tried to flee, knowing they had no time to do so. He fired off the ball which had enough energy to take out a city block.  
"**_Time Out!_**" commanded a voice out of nowhere.  
And time stood still.  
Epoch and Deadline scrambled out of the way of the now frozen energy ball of destruction. They looked around. The fleeing humans, Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom were completely frozen like statues. The two cousins were not affected by the time-freeze effect. They never could be.  
"What do we do?" asked Epoch frantically to his cousin.  
"Nothing," replied Deadline in quiet resignation. "There is nothing we can do."  
A portal opened out in midair and the ancient form of Clockwork, the time manipulating ghost, and Tucker and Sam came through. Both humans were wearing time medallions given to them by Clockwork.  
Clockwork looked around at the damage caused by Danny while under the girl ghost's control. He looked at the giant ecto-energy fireball that was hanging motionless three feet off the ground. He looked at the furious and tear-filled face of an older Danny Phantom and the broken-seeming form of Jazz Fenton. He glared at the two ghosts still moving who avoided his gaze.  
"Did Danny do all this damage?" asked Sam as she looked around.  
"If he did," said Tucker with a swallow, "then it's probably good that he doesn't remember..."  
"But he should know," said Clockwork, now a floating toddler and he dropped another time medallion around Danny's neck. "There is a lesson to be learned here."  
Danny drew a breath with a choking sob, noticed the still stationary green glowing ball and shied back, tripping and landing on his backside. He looked up and noticed Clockwork, Sam and Tucker. "Clockwork," he gasped.  
"Hello Danny," said the age shifting ghost. "I want you to take a look around and tell me what you see."  
The seventeen year-old ghost got back up onto his feet, did a slow turn and noticed all the damage. He saw the destroyed cars, the hole in the street, the fleeing people and the killer fireball which was overkill for anything reasonable. "I did all this?" he asked a low quivering voice.  
"Not on your own, I believe," replied Clockwork as he shifted from the toddler to the adult. "I believe Crystal and Warner have something to do with it." He looked towards the two cousins. "What do you two have to say for yourselves?" he asked. He changed from the adult to the more imposing ancient form.  
"Oh man!" croaked Epoch, shaking a bit.  
"I'm sorry, Uncle," replied Deadline softly.  
"You see, Danny. They may have directed your movements, but it is important for you and your friends to know what you are capable of and to take steps to make certain it will never happen." He raised his staff and in a swirl of clocks and gears, the group made it back to Deadline's lair, in the room where everything began.  
"To make sure it doesn't happen?" asked Danny. "Isn't it too late for that?"  
"Not anymore," said Clockwork with a smile. "We are now at the time when you and your friends entered the ghost zone looking for me on Friday evening and before Warner and Crystal got you under their control again."  
"So the destruction didn't happen?!" asked Danny with relief.  
"That's right."  
"Warner and Crystal?" interrupted Tucker with a chuckle.  
"Did Deadline call you her uncle?!?" asked Sam in disbelief.  
Clockwork turned to face the human teens. "What?" he asked. "This is my niece and nephew, Crystal Precision and Warner Time. You don't believe they are actually named Deadline and Epoch, do you?" He shook his head. "Teens these days... Always have to find a cooler name --never seem to be satisfied with the ones they are given." He became a toddler again.  
"What?" said Tucker. "They're just kids like us?"  
"So to speak," replied the time ghost.  
"Wait a second," interrupted Danny as he stared at Deadline, or Crystal. "Clockwork is the uncle who gave you your Study Room?" he asked.  
"Of course," said Deadline. "Who else can make a room that exists out of normal time?" she said smugly.  
"Which you used in a very irresponsible manner young lady," scolded Clockwork, shifting to an old man. "I will be speaking to both of your parents. And I will be closing off that room, Crystal."  
"Oh no," moaned Epoch, or Warner.  
"I understand, Uncle," sighed the purple haired teen ghost. She sat down on a nearby chair.  
"But what about Danny?" asked Tucker. "We still need to get him back to normal."  
"Yeah," agreed Danny. "There's got to be a way to change me back."  
"Yes, I can restore him to fourteen," assured Clockwork.  
Deadline looked up. "But why?" she asked. "I thought you liked being bigger and stronger."  
The half-ghost looked at the master planner. He thought for a moment before replying. "Well, yeah. I like being stronger, faster and better. Who wouldn't?" He shrugged. "But it's only one part of me that was trained to be that way. I'm more ghost than human right now and that's not right. Sure, I'd like to be stronger and better one day, but I also want to be smarter too. I don't want to cause such destruction like I did, er, almost did. I need to be smart enough to control such power if I do get that strong again. So I think I need to be fourteen again so I can start over and train both my human half and my ghost half together."  
Clockwork looked bemused. "You do realise that doing it the way you mentioned will take more time. You most likely won't have this kind of body when you reach seventeen again. You most likely won't have it until you are closer to twenty years-old, or even longer."  
Danny looked at his larger hands one more time, then he shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, I know. But if I do it this way, then even if it does take longer, at least I know that I am doing it right."  
Clockwork smiled. His form shifted from toddler to young man. "And thus comes maturity," he said. "One of the most important parts of growing up. I think you will do all right, Danny. I am sure your friends will remind you of what you said."  
"Huh?" asked the half-ghost confused.  
"I can't make you younger," said the age-shifter. "Not in the way you are thinking."  
"But you said..." protested Tucker.  
"I said I can restore him," clarified Clockwork. "I can take away the extra years, but he won't remember what happened to him while he's seventeen..."  
"Because it wouldn't have happened to him yet," said Sam, understanding.  
"Exactly."  
Danny sighed. "Well you do what you gotta do..."  
"You bet," said Sam brightly. "But first, I want to take some pictures so I have proof when Tucker and I start explaining this to you." She pulled her portable camera out of her pocket. "And I want a few souvenirs too," she continued in a lower and more impish voice.  
"You do that then," said Clockwork as he changed to his old man form again and took a hold of Epoch's wrist. "I will escort Warner home and be back shortly." He turned to the teenage ghost punk. "Come along," he commanded.  
"Yes sir," said Epoch dejectedly. The two ghosts disappeared through a portal.

"I hope there are no hard feelings," said Deadline as she watched Sam take pictures of Danny and that of Danny and Tucker. She even offered to take a few pictures of all three together.  
Danny Fenton turned his blue eyes on the miserable ghost. "I don't know about that," he said honestly. "What you did to me and what you were planning to do to our town was pretty lousy."  
The female ghost took the camera from Tucker and got the group to pose and she took a few pictures. "Yeah I know," she said as she pressed the camera button. "I just wanted to see what you would look like after such training. Epoch gave me an excuse to do so."  
"If you can excuse me for saying so, but that's one of the most stupid lines of reasoning I have ever heard," commented Sam as she took the camera away from Deadline.  
"Yeah. I know."  
The portal opened and Clockwork stepped through. "Okay Danny," he said. "It's time."  
"I guess so," said Danny as he shifted from human to ghost. "Bye, guys."  
"Wait!" said Sam suddenly. She shoved the camera back at Deadline. "One last picture! Tucker, turn away! Deadline, you snap it!" And she reached up, grabbed Danny's head and kissed him one last time. Tucker turned his head away in embarrassment and the female ghost took the final picture. Ancient Clockwork shook his head and smiled. He remembered being young like that. Many times.  
"Let's go, Danny," commanded Clockwork.  
Numb from shock, Danny followed the old ghost through the portal. The portal closed.  
The second hand on Deadline's clock moved ahead by one.  
Then the portal reopened and the adult Clockwork came through, carrying under one arm a very familiar fourteen year-old white-haired ghost boy.  
"Danny!" shouted Tucker and Sam together.  
The age-shifting ghost set the boy down. Danny just stood there, wearing a blank expression, as if he was under a spell.  
Clockwork confirmed it. "This Danny was just taken out of the Study Room right after he entered it. He is still under the spell of my niece. Someone has to kiss him to break the spell."  
Tucker smiled. "That's your department, Sam," he said. "I'm not gonna kiss him."  
"And I don't have the right to," said Deadline with a smile. "He's all yours."  
"Um." It was one thing to kiss Danny as the seventeen year-old while he would not remember it, but to kiss him now?  
"Huh?" asked Tucker. "It was alright to kiss the older Danny, but not this one?"  
"But the other Danny won't remember the kiss. This one will!"  
"Geez," snorted the female ghost. "And I thought you had guts. I guess I will have to do something about that." She smiled impishly. "Danny, kiss Sam. Be tender."  
Danny turned and walked slowly towards Sam. She half-heartedly started to back away, but he was there before she managed a step backwards. He gently tipped her back and kissed her tenderly.  
Sam mentally shrugged and closed her eyes. She decided she would enjoy the moment.  
The kiss ended and there was a bit of a lurch as Danny regained consciousness and tried not to drop her. "Sam?" he asked, with the familiar voice she knew well. She opened her eyes to see the confusion and concern in Danny's brilliant green eyes. He set her straight and looked around at Deadline, Tucker and Clockwork. "What happened?" he asked. "I remember being kissed by Deadline and..." He blushed as he looked at Sam.  
Sam smiled. Here was the Danny she knew. "It's okay, Danny. It's all over."  
The half-ghost looked towards the purple-haired ghost girl. She smiled at him, almost shyly.  
"Sorry about what Epoch and I have done, Danny," she said. "But if you ever need a hand with a plan, you are welcome to ask me."  
"Um, thanks..." Danny said, confused. "What's going on?" he asked his friends.  
"It's a long story, Bud," replied Tucker. "And it's gonna be hard to believe, but we got some pics to prove it to you."  
"And with that, I'll bid you adieu," said Clockwork and he raised his staff. Clocks whirred around the three of them and Danny, Sam and Tucker found themselves and the Spectre Speeder back in the basement lab of the Fenton Works building, Danny's home.  
Jazz came running down the stairs. "Danny! You're home! And normal!" She gave him a huge hug.  
From inside his sister's embrace, the half-ghost's voice could be heard. "Can someone please explain to me what's going on?!?"

Inside the kitchen, over a dinner of hotdogs and tofu-dogs, Tucker, Sam and Jazz explained what happened over the last couple days and what was made to un-happen. Sam showed Danny some pictures on someone who resembled him, but was three years older.  
"I was seventeen years-old and I don't remember it?" he asked.  
"Yup," said Jazz.  
"I was threatening Dash and I don't remember it?"  
"Yup," said Tucker.  
"And I am gonna pay for it and I don't even remember why?"  
"Yup," said Sam.  
A voice was heard through the kitchen window. "Fenton! Just wanna warn you that I'm gonna make you pay for the nightmare I experienced this morning! I'm gonna wail on ya just to show that I am still bigger! See ya!"  
"That sucks," said Danny.  
"Yup," the other three agreed.  
Danny looked at the pictures of the stronger seventeen year-old ghost boy. "Man, I wish I was that size again."  
"You can be," said Jazz. "But it's gonna take time."  
"And you said you were gonna train properly."  
"I guess so," said Danny. He sighed, shrugged, then smiled. "But right at the moment, I'm gonna be glad I'm a kid and have some fun hanging out with my friends. I'll grow up eventually. There's no real rush."  
"Under the circumstances, I'm glad to hear it," said Sam.  
Jazz brought out a box from the freezer. "Who wants ice-cream and sorbet?" she asked.  
"We do!" shouted the kids.

In Deadline's cuckoo-clock lair, Clockwork turned the key in the lock of the glowing door to a certain room. He pocketed the key and turned to the purple-haired teen ghost sitting in a chair by a table, calmly sipping a soda through a straw. He took a chair next to her and sat down.  
"Crystal," he said. "You know you brought this on yourself, right?"  
The girl nodded. "Yes, I do," she said quietly.  
"You knew that Danny Phantom was under my protection and there was no way that I would have allowed you to get away with what you have done, right?"  
Deadline lifted her head and looked at her uncle. "Yes, I did."  
"And you haven't forgotten that I see everything, right?"  
She snorted. "Of course not!"  
The older ghost scratched his head and leaned forward. "Then you should have known that any plans you would have made would have ultimately failed."  
"Believe it or not Uncle, I knew that too." Deadline took another sip at her soda. "I knew that when Epoch..."  
"Warner," corrected Clockwork as he shifted to his oldest form.  
"...Warner," she conceded. "I knew that we could not win when he --Warner first asked me to help him to take over Amity Park."  
"Young lady," said the time ghost exasperatedly, "I can see many ways a future can come to be. I can see what needs to be done to make things right. But I cannot see your reasoning for why you did what you did. Explain that to me, please."  
"Alright." She took a final sip on her soda and stood up. She walked around the table and stood in front of her uncle and assumed a lecturing stance.  
"When Epoch asked me to come up with a plan to take over Amity Park, I knew it would be doomed to failure in the end. Danny Phantom protects Amity Park and you protect him. I knew that, however Epoch forgot. He mentioned that he would not tell you of any plans that were made, so he believed we would be able to get away with it, but I knew that no one would have to tell you anything. You know everything. Based on that, I knew that you would show up and stop us before we went too far. With that in mind, I devised a plan to see just how far we can go before you would stop us. I involved Danny Phantom in our plan because: A.) it would be easier than fighting him and B.)..." she blushed here. "...I really did want to see what potential Danny could reach under a strict training program. Um, he turned out really nice." She coughed to clear her throat and looked to her uncle.  
"Your training plan was flawed though," he countered.  
She nodded. "The training plan was designed with the flaws on purpose so Danny would have a reason to come back to the Ghost Zone, either to seek you or myself out to help him. Then we could intercept him and bring him back under control."  
Clockwork was stirring some sugar into a cup of coffee. He changed to his toddler form and took a sip. "So you did all that planning, knowing that you would fail."  
Deadline nodded.  
"So tell me... What did you get out of all that planning."  
The girl looked at her uncle and gave her answer. "Respect."  
"If you would be so kind as to elaborate on that, please." He took another sip of coffee.  
"Of course." Deadline smiled. "I explained my plans to Desiree, Technus, Skulker and even the Box Ghost when I asked to borrow the items I did. They were impressed by the complexity of the plan, but none of them really thought I would pull it off. However, I know that they were watching the whole time. When Epoch starts telling everyone that the only reason we failed was because Clockwork, one of the most powerful ghosts in the Ghost Zone, showed up and stopped us by manipulating time. No one can plan against that kind of thing. I will get the recognition and respect that I deserve." She held up her trembling chin, daring her uncle to deny her.  
Clockwork finished his coffee and looked at his niece. He changed from toddler to adult. "You're quite the schemer Young Lady. If I let things stand, you will be seeing the respect you've been fighting for. I know that."  
The young ghost's lip trembled. "_If _you let it stand?" she asked.  
He sighed. "Crystal... Deadline... You're a smart girl. I know that you've had a rough existence. I've always known. And you know that I have known. You would always hide yourself in your studying. But I also know you have enjoyed it. That is why I gave you the Study Room, so you would have more time doing what you enjoyed." He shook his head. "I knew that you were coming out of your shell, but I wish you had another, more quiet way of doing that."  
Despite the punk outfit she was wearing, Deadline resembled the meek shy girl she was a few days before. "Is... Is Epoch --I mean, Warner going to get in much trouble over this?" she asked.  
"Warner will be grounded for a month and will be on a strict curfew for another month, but he will explain the events to the other ghosts and both of you will get the recognition you worked for." He winked. "You also are grounded for a month with another month of curfew for pulling that stunt of yours. I also know you won't be doing something like that again."  
She brightened, despite the pronouncement of punishment. "You're right on that, as always," she said. "Thank you."  
He got up and turned to leave. "I want you to think about what you did," he said as he was leaving. He stopped and pointed at the examination table. "And I want you to get rid of that thing."  
"Of course..."  
Clockwork was almost out of the room when his niece asked him one last question. "Uncle, you know everything about the future, right?"  
"You know I do."  
"Right... Um, I was just wondering... Will Danny and Sam get together in the future?"  
He turned back to her and wagged a finger. "I do know everything about the future..." he said. "But I don't have to tell."


End file.
